


Curse of Culpa Road

by FeliciaBelle



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, Eventual Romance, F/M, Horror, Language, Salt, Torture, ml salt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2020-09-26 11:07:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 38,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20388709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeliciaBelle/pseuds/FeliciaBelle
Summary: After the people of Paris took away his joy, Felix swore vengeance on the town. Where the old town laid, now a road that runs through; Culpa Road. Said to be home of the devil and where many people suffer a terrible fate if they anger the demon that still resides at the old Culpa Manor.





	1. A Curse is Born

**Author's Note:**

  * For [I_need_Coffee_and_Linkeduniverse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_need_Coffee_and_Linkeduniverse/gifts).

> "Gee Panda! You must really like Ladybug!" Yes citizen, yes I do.
> 
> So few things: 1. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE IN BOTH LADYBUG DISCORD CHATS, YOU KNOW WHO YOU PEOPLE ARE! :D
> 
> 2\. Thank you Miraculous_of_Salt for letting me take your Haunted Mansion AU and give my own spin to it
> 
> 3\. Today's Prompt was Their Fingers lace together, a perfect fit. Since I can use this in a line...I did. And it gave me an excuse to start this :D
> 
> 4\. If you're a certain Anon, please fuck off. I will moderating this fic too just to be safe. Do not push me or else. Edit: Right, say good bye to anon comments, Bitch

He truly did have it all. Felix Culpa, the richest man of Paris had finally found someone to break that icy demon heart of his and her name was Bridgette. Sweet and beautiful Bridgette, a girl that broke the norms of society in every single way possible; she never wore those tight corsets with her dresses, her dresses in question always stopped just below the knees, her outgoing personality was the reason she was into boyish activities, everything a proper young lady should be she wasn’t. But it was fine, after all it was because of her bold behavior at one of the parties the Culpa Family hosted is what made Felix fall in love with her. Well, not exactly at first, he merely tolerated her at the beginning and it was what made the young maiden determined in getting Felix to crack a smile, no matter what and what she did at the party did just that.

Her beautiful voice. That sweet singing voice lit up everything in that darkened manor, and it was what made Felix truly fall for her, going above and beyond to court her, it didn’t really take much though as he knew how to read humans; Bridgette was a free girl, sure she may like flowers (she nearly knocked him to the floor after hugging him for the roses he brought her), and she may like the occasional jewelry (she proudly wears the cute little ladybug earrings after receiving them), but there was one thing she truly loved out of anything in the world, one thing you could never buy in any store. Felix’s violin playing. Their styles in music clashed but as time grew on, the closer they grew and the more in sync they were. His violin and her sweet voice were in perfect harmony. It made proposing all the more heartwarming when Felix placed that silver ring with a diamond rose in the center and Bridgette jumping into his arms once more (this time actually knocking them both into the ground and rolling into the field of sunflowers). Since then, they were always found hand in hand, fingers laced together in a perfect fit, they were definitely made for each other; and wherever one of them went, the other was sure to follow close behind.

But sadly, as the saying goes ‘all good things must come to an end’. It was a cloudy day when Bridgette had left the manor, she was off to deliver the wedding invitations to her friends and family. Felix stayed behind knowing that she would be back soon and decided to work on some of the wedding planning; nothing too major, just what he wanted the groom’s side to be, and what the dinner menu should have. He wanted to include her friends in any way possible (pretty certain there was one girl who was a strict vegetarian, spinach puffs were a safe bet, right?) He was so caught up in his work, he didn’t notice that it had been hours since she left until the clock chimed thirteen. Strange, it shouldn’t have taken her that long to deliver wedding invitations, perhaps she was held up by family? No…she would have made an effort to contact him or send someone to let him know. Feeling a sense of dread, Felix had left the manor and went out into the streets to look for her. The dreadful feeling grew and grew the closer he got to the town square, and right there before his eyes was Bridgette engulfed in flames. No. No! He was frozen, he couldn’t rush to save her, he stood there and watched helplessly as she died a slow and painful death. His light of his life, his love, his soon to be wife…gone. His presence was finally made when he walked up to the stand, grabbing a box to put her ashes in for the time being until he found a more suitable case. Someone did try to approach and wish their sympathy all that did was earn a harsh slap to the face and to see Felix storm off for home.

Red. Felix saw red that night. Red like the fires that had taken his love from him, red like the blood he was going to enjoy spilling in this town like they did to his wife! Red. _Red_. _**Red**_. _**RED!**_ **RED!** She was burned at the stake like a witch, his angel was burned for something she wasn’t! This village was going to pay dearly, and he had the means to do so. It was true once upon a time before he met Bridgette he dabbled in the dark arts as it was his nature, but after meeting her he promised he would leave those days behind and start a new slate with her. But that promise was long gone now as he grabbed the old black leather book from his desk and made his way back into the town center; thunder roared and flashes of green lightning crashed the closer he got to the town square, if they wanted a witch, he would give them one.

“Listen well, Paris.” He snarled. “Tonight, you and your kin will pay for the sins you have committed tonight! You’ve taken my bride away, now I’m taking away your life and your freedom. You’re my precious toys now for me to play with and destroy whenever I damn well please.”

There was a moment of silence before someone screamed. It was the mayor’s daughter, Charlotte. The young girl turned and tried to run, but that just made the demon grin as he held his hand out to stop her.

“Where do you think you’re going? Stay a while.” He ordered.

Charlotte looked down at her hands and feet to find a thin, bloody wire coming out of them, frantically she tried yanking the wires from her hands to free herself, not caring if she was only hurting herself in the process. Felix laughed and flicked his wrist to drag her back to the center.

“Come now, Charlotte, you’ve always wanted to be the center of attention. Dance for us!”

Her dance was painful to watch; her body was twisting and bending in ways it shouldn’t, her howls of pains when Felix would make her bend back or twist her arms to cause a joint to start popping and cracking, each step for her was like stepping on glass and hot coals combined. Screaming and crying, she was begging for him to stop this sick dance she was forced to perform, that didn’t gain any sympathy as Felix forced her to bend back again.

“You want me to stop? Did you stop the false trial? Did you stop the wrongful execution of Bridgette? No? Then why should I stop when all you did was cheer and celebrated the murder of an innocent woman!”

“Please I can’t take it anymore!” She sobbed.

But he continued to toy with her like a mad puppeteer, laughing at her pain. “No? But I’m giving you what you craved for the most, you should be happy I’m doing this for you!”

Out of disgust and wanting this freak show to end, someone – Ken, rushed over and tore the book from Felix’s grasps before throwing it into a nearby flame. Hoping that without the source of his powers that the spell would end and Charlotte would be spared. To his and everyone’s demise, the spell didn’t end, Charlotte was still forced to dance and Felix howled with laughter.

“You truly are stupid, Ken.” His grin grew. “That book was your saving grace and you destroyed it! This curse will live on for eternity! Paris will be my new toy box; thank you, Ken, now we can all play together. Forever.”


	2. A New Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again: Thank you Ladybug servers on discord, you know who you are! :D

Over the years, Felix had come to enjoy his new toy box. The simpletons of the city of Paris had come and gone, along with a few toys that further along the devious reputation of a haunted manor to the point where the entire road was named after his family: The Culpa Road. Felix did have to wonder to himself though, what had Charlotte been up to these years, she was the first to leave the village (and in a wheelchair nonetheless), did she set up a name for herself? Probably so as the crazy old lady with numerous cats as she and a few of his other toys told the tales of his curse. The city had taken the curse and the history that Felix had cultivated as a myth over the years, his home that had once envisioned sharing with his beloved had remained untouched by time while the entirety of Paris was always changing. Between the wars and the construction, Felix could hardly recognize his toy box at times. Perhaps it was for the best, he had remained dormant after all of these years, lingering in the mansion and crafting various figurines of his previous toys. Of course, there were points in time where he came out and had his fun, suppose the wars were the only good thing that came from the stupid peasants – Marie Antoinette was a favorite of his, too bad she never got a head in life. He was so proud of himself to convince that doctor to create the guillotine, it was a nice and quick efficient way to get rid of the toys that no longer entertained him.

Of course, over the course of time Culpa Road had changed; it was home to various houses that low income families would move into (He had to wonder if his little curse dropped property value), and while most of the time they were pleasant, there was always some naïve individual that would get on his nerves or trespass onto his grounds, it wasn’t Felix’s fault that they couldn’t understand the simplest of rules or what their ancestors had done to warrant the curse onto them, he just enacted punishment he felt fit the crime. Such was the case of the Queen of Maggots back from his time. Oh her. How he enjoyed making her suffer and how he enjoyed her begging for the sweet release that death would bring, but he never brought it. She suffered and died a slow and painful death, and this tombstone was proof of it. She wouldn’t be remembered by anyone, all her stories died over time; he made sure to destroy any and all records of her after her death. Nameless. No legacy. Nothing. Just this faded tombstone that read ‘Here Lies the Queen of Maggots.’ Just looking at it made him sick, he took a big inhale before letting out a hacking spit right on her grave. She was lucky he was kind enough to give her a burial.

*****

Today was the start of the new year in College Francois Dupont as Marinette looked up at the school with high hopes. She was eager to start with a new slate as she dubbed that this year was all about confidence; confidence in approaching Adrian and confessing her crush to him, confidence in making it into the model world (well, first she has to join a few big name contests with her designs), and confidence that nothing was going to drag her down this year. Taking a deep breath, she walked through the doors ready to begin another year in school. Madame Bustier was her teacher again, already things were going off to a great start, especially since her assigned seat was in the first row again. Two for two! Her friends soon entered the room and she felt her heart skip a beat when she saw Alya and Nino come her way, already Three for-

“Hey girl, can I ask you a favor?” Alya asked.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Do you think you could swap seats with Lila; she has a hearing problem and it would be great if she had the front row.”

Lila? That liar was back in town? Marinette could have sworn her mother pulled her out and dragged her lying ass back to Italy where she belonged. No. She was not bending over backwards for Lila, she already had to deal with her lying through her teeth when she first showed up last year and she was not going to put up with it for another year.

“And why do _I_ have to be the one to move exactly?” Marinette carefully challenged. “What happened to her hearing exactly?”

“Well, there’s no way Chloe or Sabrina will move and I want to be with Nino this year…why does it matter?”

“Because I’m not giving up my spot without a valid reason. What happened to Lila’s hearing?”

“She got tinnitus from saving Jagged Stone’s cat from an airport runway.” Alya sighed. “Come on, Marinette, why are you being like this?”

“Jagged Stone doesn’t have a cat and there’s no way a civilian would have access to an airport runway. I’m sorry Alya, but I am not switching seats for a liar.”

That was apparently the wrong thing to say. The moment she had let those words leave her mouth, her friends immediately turned on her and continued to pressure her. Lila wasn’t lying, why would she lie about a hearing disability? Marinette just do this one thing and we’ll make it up to you. Over and over again she was getting rather sick of listening to this, just to shut everyone up she grabbed her things and slammed them hard on the desk in the back of the room. The room went dead quiet as she stared them down, fine no problem. She can spend her time sketching; it was hard to do designs in the front anyway. Class that morning was super tense, even Bustier noticed the shift in the atmosphere when she came in. Perhaps this year was going to be a rocky road.

Things got worse when lunch rolled around. Marinette was to the side putting all of her frustrations into her designs; all her heated passion and anger went into dresses that were low cut and had a fiery feel to it like they came from Hades himself. Historical and flattering in some places as she started to come down from her heated rage, drawing out her feelings helped a lot in these trying times, or at least they would if a little mosquito would leave her the hell alone!

“They look a bit on the slutty side, I don’t think any model would be wearing _those_.” Lila sneered.

“Well, fortunately for them these aren’t official designs and just my way of letting out negative thoughts.” Marinette gritted out.

“I’m just saying, even if you’re letting out your anger – which I don’t know why you’re so angry at me, I’ve been nothing but nice to you and-”

God would you shut up? Marinette slammed her sketchbook closed and stood up. Right then, she wasn’t going to sit by and let this stupid girl wreck her day any further. It was time to find a new place to work. Without even looking back to her friends and classmates she stormed out of the school and started off in a random direction, she didn’t care where she ended up, she just wanted to put some distance between her and them for the time being. She may be playing the role of the bigger person right now, but one day she was probably going to snap and slap that lying bitch in the face. She could already feel how satisfying that is right now and she wasn’t even anywhere near her. Actually, now that she got a better look at her surroundings, she wasn’t even anywhere near town…just how far has she walked exactly?

The street she was on was pretty dark, no street lamps, tall trees took over and covered the sky giving little room for sunlight. Was she still in Paris? She took out her phone and turned GPS on, thankfully she was still in Paris on a little street called Culpa Road. She gulped and continue to walk on, the people who lived on that street stayed indoors and watched her before closing their curtains, they were afraid of something for certain. She didn’t understand why, yeah it was dark and there could be a psycho wearing a ghost mask and brandishing a knife somewhere, but it was just a normal street that also just happened to hold a manor up ahead. Arriving close enough she was greeted to a warm sight; the manor was basking in the sunlight, freshly painted white with a sturdy iron gate, fine trimmed grass and…a garden. The most beautiful garden in the world! Roses, marigolds, tulips, lotuses, it was just colorful and filled with everything! Not caring if she was trespassing or not, she rushed through the gates and ran to the gardens, oh everything was beautiful! Even the fountain with turtles spitting water! She couldn’t take it anymore, she immediately sat down somewhere and started drawing. Dresses, accessories, hats, shoes, everything was having a touch from this garden. This place was perfect! Any and all strife from Lie-la Rossi was melting away with each stroke of the pencil, she found her new sanctuary.

She would talk to the owner about her visits later, right now she was on a tight timeline and she wanted to get everything done before she had to return to school to deal with the bitch again.

*****

Ken watched helplessly as Felix walked around the room, humming a tune as he polished a gun. Tied and having his lips sewn shut he tried keeping a brave face as the blond sat across from him with a now loaded pistol in his hand.

**Bang.**

The statue seated beside him shattered, some of the stone pieces hit him in the face leaving a few scrapes. Felix looked him dead in the eyes and blew the smoke from the gun. “Do you feel it? Do you feel the sensation of being helpless?” he asked coldly.

Ken nodded frantically.

“Really? Because I don’t think you do.” Felix shot the other statue and watched as Ken struggled and cried. “How do you think Bridgette felt when you tied her to the stake? When you set the flames and let her suffer? Scared. Helpless. **_Betrayed_**.” He aimed at Ken. “Which is what I’m going to make sure you feel tonight. Scared.”

A shot to the legs.

“Helpless.” A shot in the shoulder.

“Betrayed.”

A shot to the head.

Headshots were a messy thing; his walls were a mess, the chair was dirty now, and now there’s specks of blood on his fine suit and shoes. No matter, he wasn’t that cruel of a master, Ken was just the muscles in the operation and a perfect warm up for what was to come next in his little toy collection.


	3. First Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can see you there, you're sitting there wondering "Will Panda ever update the other fics?" and the answer is yes. Yes I will when I have the muse for them.

The warm sun, the gentle breeze, it was days like this that made Felix throw away his cares and just enjoy a nice pastry and a cup of coffee. There were things about the modern world today he loved and hated; for example, the little café he was in was the good, the annoying parents who shove a tablet in front of Tiny Tim to shut him up was the bad. Moments like that are what causes him to remember that he placed a curse on Paris so many years ago. Of course, he had a soft spot for children, they were usually left alone while he beat some sense into their parents’ heads…most of the time the behavior shifted and parents actually parent instead of relying on technology to do the job.

But right now, he just didn’t want to be bothered with anyone. He just wanted to sit back and enjoy his quiet afternoon without any interruptions. Whatever the people of Paris today are doing he could care less, so long as those living on his road kept their heads down and avoided his manor no one should have a problem.

**Caw!**

Strange, the only time Edgar left the grounds is if to warn him of something. Home invaders? No, even some of the people today wouldn’t go near his manor to steal stuff; he made sure to make an example of the last thief (making that human scarecrow was a delight, too bad the authorities took it down. Suppose he would have to make another if there was a stupid thief again.). Felix let the bird perch on his shoulder and gave it a gentle pet as it reported the news to him, lately the manor had been receiving an uninvited guest in their gardens. At the beginning; the first few days the familiars barely batted an eye but it’s been two weeks now and that guest showed up every day at the stroke of twelve noon. Frowning, Felix looked at the clock hanging on the wall in the café and then to his watch; 11:30 a.m. Perfect, he could start home and meet their little guest and perhaps give them a lesson they’ll never forget.

*****

To say that things had been getting better would be lying. Ever since day one of Lila’s return it’s been nothing but constant bullying and twisting the narrative around, and ever since Marinette has been escaping to the manor’s garden on Culpa Road, not telling anyone where she went for lunch. She kept telling herself to try to let the owner know of her visits, but by the time she gets there she just wanted to sketch and get back to a level head, there was no need to freak out on the owner because of pent up stress. Of course, when she’s sketching all she has to break her from the zone was the little alarm on her phone to break her out of her own little trance. Today was no different, Lila made another stupid claim that ‘Marinette shoved me to the ground’ and of course everyone got up and arms over it while Lila smirked that devil smirk.

Augh. Lila. She could never bring herself to hate the pretty little liar, but she wasn’t going to deny that she’d want nothing more than for Lila to return to Italy and stay there (or at least for Lila to live in Antarctica and freeze in below freezing weather, a perfect place to live for someone with a cold black heart like hers). The very thought of Lila being shunned by the adorable penguins made her giggle. Now that she thought about it, a frost themed dress sounded like a fun idea too. Once more, she was engulfed in her own little world sketching away designs as well as just drawing the garden itself; the beautiful apple tree with a raven perching on it, the red roses surrounded the tree, the handsome blonde that was approaching her with a pissed off expression.

Wait.

Marinette did a double take, there in front of her was a young man around her age dressed in a grey shirt covered with a black vest, his medium long blond hair was a bit on the messy side from the breezy day they’ve been having, and staring right into her soul were those soft teal grey eyes. He was pissed, she wasn’t going to deny it but damn if his presence alone didn’t make her blush from embarrassment.

“I don’t recall inviting anyone over to my estate.” He said in a rather cold, velvet voice. “Who are you?”

She immediately stood up and bowed apologetically. “I’m so sorry! Are you the owner of the mansion? Oh god what am I saying, of course you are since you said this was your estate. I’m sorry, I was going to come to the door to ask if I could keep visiting but at the time I’ve been so stressed I didn’t want to accidentally explode on you while asking and then you would be even more upset, I’m really sorry, I’ll leave right away.”

The boy just stared, while it may not look like his expression changed, it did. He wasn’t upset anymore but more baffled at how this girl was still able to breath while spewing out her apology. He did gain important information from her little rant; school was terrible and she would come to his garden to draw designs. Well, he does take pride in how well his garden has been maintained over the years, he couldn’t really blame her for finding this place like a little wonderland. Though this conversation was pretty one-sided now.

“Hey.” He said sharply, interrupting her. “Why don’t we continue this talk inside?”

“I don’t want to impose and be a burden on you.” She glanced down.

“You really need to stop putting words in my mouth, nowhere did I say you were.” He turned and led the way. “All I said was ‘I don’t recall inviting anyone over’ and asked who you were, which by the way, you still had yet to answer. Who are you, or should I just call you ‘girl’ from here on out?’

Marinette looked up and grabbed her belongings before following him to the front door. “Oh! I’m sorry, my name is Marinette, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“Well then Miss Dupain-Cheng, could I offer you anything to drink? Your mouth must be dry from your constant apologies.” He held the door open for her.

“You could offer me your name.” She teased.

That took the boy off guard, how could someone go from apologetic blabbering to being bold in that short of time? He shook his head and gave a small smile at her. “Felix, Felix Apluc.” He introduced. “And I welcome you to my home.”

The time spent with Felix was a fresh breath of air; true they got off on the wrong foot but after having some tea and sharing whatever Marinette had for lunch, they got along almost perfectly. They spent the day talking about what drove the girl to the edge of running to the gardens, a bully problem. This would be good for the both of them, all Felix needed was a name and face and he could start playing with his new toy! Here he was afraid the curse wouldn’t be needed as much, but it turns out it did once more. Of course, that would be for another day. Today, was all about his guest and the sketchbook he held in his hands; everything was amazing! From the dresses that were based off her emotions, to the designs based off his gardens, to the gardens themselves! She was truly gifted in the arts and he knew she was going to make it big someday.

“It seems as though you’re on your last page.” Felix mused.

“Usually I just need one page to let everything out.” Marinette admitted, she fell silent before a thought came to her. “Hey! I don’t usually do this unless I trust the person like friends or family but…why don’t you draw something on the last page?”

Felix blinked and looked at the empty page. “I can’t think of anything right now.”

“Well, that’s why I said I need to trust the person; because _you’re_ going to keep it until you fill that page.” She smiled proudly.

“Oh really?” Felix closed the book and moved to the other side of the parlor, he picked up a box and returned to his spot on the couch. “Then here, this is an old puzzle box. I haven’t been able to solve it; supposedly, one of my ancestors left something valuable in here. I want you to solve it.”

“Right now?” Marinette stared at the box, it looked like a standard Chinese puzzle box but she knew damn well that looks were deceiving. “I don’t think I can do that in a short amount of time, I have to return to school soon.”

Felix just laughed. “Then it looks like _you’re_ keeping it until you figure it out, and as a bonus, you can keep whatever is locked up inside there.”

The two laughed and parted ways for the day; Marinette returning to school and Felix remaining in the manor for the rest of the day. Watching that girl go, he couldn’t help but to smile. That girl was so weird in many ways; how many people would think to break into someone’s garden just to sketch fashion designs, only two people came to mind and they were Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Bridgette. His heart ached, he remembers the days when they first met, she was this wild child always climbing the tree and tapping on his bedroom window just to say hi, it startled him at first seeing a strange woman in his tree. They were able to laugh about it after they started courting.

Strange, why was he remembering this all of a sudden. It was true there were days when he would slip back into memory lane, but those days were rare and only happened whenever he was playing with a new toy. So why? Actually no, the real question should be why did he give a strange girl he just met a puzzle box that Bridgette gave him? Because she was honest? Because she was cute – stop that, Felix. You just met her! Well, he would be meeting her again tomorrow at lunch, if what she said about this bully is true then she’ll be back to let off more steam.


	4. Gift Exchange

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dentists everywhere are going to hate me for this chapter

There were a lot of words to describe Marinette; helpful, kind, a good friend, all of them rang true. Especially the other word that described her, determined. She was determined to get things done and she was determined in figuring out this puzzle box. Yesterday she had spent her time working on it and only stopping to go to the bathroom, take Tikki out for a walk, or to get something for dinner. She didn’t sleep at all last night, and she wasn’t going to until she solved this damn thing. Whoever made it was quite the craftsman she would admit. When the morning light graced her, she dragged herself to get dressed and get ready for the day; getting dressed and making sure she had that puzzle box with her. She was going to solve this before she went off to Felix’s house today, even if she had to unscrew the box to do so!

Probably the only good thing about sitting in the back of the class was that she could go unnoticed by the teacher. Nathaniel was once again sketching beside her as she worked on the box. Surprisingly enough, it was easier today than it was yesterday; she just wrote it off as she was just tired and now that she had somewhat of a rest (she passed out at her desk) she was able to work on this with a clear head. And now that it was easier, she decided to play a little prank on Felix by writing down the solution in Chinese. She could see him with a scowl right now and she couldn’t stop herself from giggling.

“What’s so funny, girl?”

Marinette looked up at Alya, when was the last time they had a conversation together? She pulled herself together and gave her cheery smile before replying, “Oh! Nothing much, just remembered something funny is all.”

“Okay.” She bought it. “And what is that in front of you?” she pointed to the box.

“Just a puzzle box.” Marinette shrugged and continued to slide pieces in place.

“It looks old, where did you get it? A dumpster?” Lila smirked.

Of course, Alya brought Lila over, why wouldn’t she? And why wouldn’t she say something about her nasty remarks? Oh right, because Lila is so sweet and innocent that she can do no wrong and that Marinette is just oversensitive over harmless jokes.

Marinette narrowed her eyes slightly. “Actually, it was given to me by a _friend_.” She stressed the word. “It belonged to his grandfather and he wanted to see if I could solve it.”

“And who is this friend?” Alya demanded. “Why haven’t we met them yet?”

“Because they don’t go to this school?”

**Click**

Saved by the puzzle box. Marinette smiled and opened it to find a faded envelope with a wax seal, a family crest with a flower in the center, underneath was a set of little dolls that rested on top of a picture of a beautiful girl with long flowy hair, a bright smile, and a short dress. This must be Felix’ grandma, she can see where he got his good looks from, this woman was so beautiful!

Carefully putting the picture back and the dolls she opened the envelope and took out a small letter.

_“Hey Felix!_  
_Looks like you solved my little puzzle, did you have fun? You did, don’t lie. Despite your scowl when your concentrating, you always admit you had a good time during our game nights._

_I thought this would be a great gift to kick off our wedding, and I made these dolls for you. It took a while to Edgar right – I never sewn birds before, but I hope you like them and if not then I’LL keep them for myself, so there!_

_Love _  
_Your Bride-to-be_  
_Bridgette Culpa_

_P.s. Look up at me when you scowl, it’s so cute. You look like a pouty kitty._  
_P.S.S. Bridgette Culpa, it has a lovely sound to it! I am so lucky to be sharing this unique name with you.”_

Marinette smiled at the contents of the letter; Bridgette was such a sweet girl all right. She put a lot of work into this wedding gift. Of course, she had to wonder about the Felix part, it wasn’t uncommon to be named after a relative but, somewhere inside her…she can’t describe it but it didn’t really sound right. Probably the last name; Culpa, there was stories about Culpa Road but she never believed those ghost stories. She didn’t see anyone get maimed or torture during her times in his gardens, and if Felix was the famous demon of the street then why hadn’t he tortured her? They were just urban legends cooked up by the children who lived on that street because they got scolded for breaking a window with a ball or something.

“Doesn’t seem like a very exciting wedding gift.” Lila sneered. “Who gives their future husband _dolls_ as a wedding gift?”

Marinette placed the letter back and closed the box. “Definitely not a self-absorbed brat like you, Lila. I think it’s very sweet that Miss Bridgette made these for Mr. Culpa.”

“Seriously Marinette, do you have to insult Lila right here?” Alya sighed. “All she did was make a simple remark.”

“No, she insulted the couple.” Marinette stood up. “And now, I’m going to leave before I say or do something I’m going to regret.”

*****

“If I may make a suggestion, my lord?”

“What is it, Narcisse?”

Narcisse walked up to Felix and looked at the blank page before him. “I was thinking, Miss Dupain-Cheng seemed interested in our estate; perhaps you could draw a dress that reflects both sides of our history; good and bad?”

Felix blinked and thought it over, it did make sense to draw a dress in a book of design. But that is what she would expect the most from him, he wanted to make this picture count for something. It was part of the reason he let his artist out of his hidden cell, to give him ideas or advice about what to draw for her. It dawned on him, in the cover’s folder there was a picture of Marinette and a small yet very fluffy dog; it was labeled as Mari and Tikki. That’s it! Without a second thought, he picked up the pencil and started drawing away. A few strokes here, a shine to the eyes, and a little shading here and there…and perfect!

Smiling with pride, Felix held up the picture; it was of his cat Bella laying by the fireplace with Edgar, it was one of the rare moments those two were seen sleeping together and it was a cute sight to see. Marinette was going to love this; she loves animals so it was the perfect picture.

“What do you think?” He asked.

“I think you finished it just in time.”

Felix fell silent. “Narcisse, what time is it?”

Just as he asked that, the clock started to chime twelve times.

Standing up he flicked his hand to the hole in the wall, “You are dismissed, Narcisse. Return to your studio, I’ll call should I need you.”

Narcisse bowed and turned to the wall, walking obediently without fuss. Honestly, Felix couldn’t see why Bridgette called him a friend he had a bit of anger issues and was too out of touch with others. Still, he had no hand in the death of his wife, but that didn’t mean that he was off the hook. Staying out of sight like a rat in the wall, well, he may as well make accommodations for him; a beautiful art studio hidden from view and deep in the manor’s walls. If he wanted to live like a rat, he would gladly grant him that wish.

Closing the door and leaving him locked in, he made his way to the entrance hall with perfect timing, the door knocked and in came Marinette. She was brimming with excitement, something good had happened today and he was eager to hear all about it.

“Right on time, as always.” Felix lead her to the foyer. “I have tea and some sandwiches made for us, if that’s alright?”

“With some cookies as desserts?” She held up a bag.

“You’re always one step ahead of me, aren’t you?” Felix chuckled. “So, let’s get to the reason you’re here.” He sat on the couch. “You’re pretty cheerful, did something happen at school? Someone confessed their love to you?”

Marinette blushed. “No! That didn’t happen!”

“Then I have a chance to court you then?”

“What the-! That’s not-! I finished the puzzle box, you jerk!” She took the box out and placed it on the table. “I know you said I could keep the contents but I think you should go through it first.”

Felix blinked. She solved it in just one day? He been working on that confusing thing for weeks ever since Bridgette made it for him. He carefully took the box into his hands and read the letter on top, his heart twisted a little bit and he smiled; of course, she made it just to see him scowl. She always called him pouty kitty every chance she got, and her picture…she was still as beautiful as she was when they met. Risky dresses, untidy hair, and that playful smile on her face.

“She’s beautiful.” Marinette spoke up. “I can only imagine what she was like alive.”

“She was annoying and insufferable.” Felix chuckled. If Bridgette was going to get a final pouty kitty out of him, he was going to get a final snide remark in as well. “But she was a delight to be around. Breaking the rules of normality and getting away with it with that angelic smile, she was dubbed the town’s darling with how she wanted to help wherever she could. One place you would always find her was the bakery where she lived or in the forests where she played in the trees and the creek.”

“It sounds like your family adored her.”

“We still do, and we miss her greatly.” Felix set the letter and picture aside. “And with that, the dolls are yours along with the box.” He placed the box and dolls on her lap.

“But they were your grandfather’s wedding gifts?” Marinette looked down at them. “Shouldn’t they stay here with you?”

“Naturally, but as I said yesterday, if you can solve this puzzle box you can keep whatever is inside of it. That means, the dolls are yours to keep.”

Marinette gave the box a small hug and placed it back into her bag. “Thank you, Felix.”

“I’m not done yet.” Felix held her sketchbook out. “I believe this is yours.”

“You finished the blank page?” Marinette turned to the back and saw the bird and cat together; she couldn’t help but let out a loud ‘Aww’ sound at it. “Oh my god, this is so adorable! Is that the same raven from the garden yesterday?”

“Yes, he and Bella usually don’t get along so when I find them like this, I take pictures when I can.” Felix chuckled.

“Your cat’s name is Bella? I never pegged you as a Twilight fan.” She smirked

He flicked her head. “You hush. Her full name is Belladonna, I just call her Bella for short.”

“Poor cat, you named her after a deadly poison.”

That earned another flick to the forehead.

“And now you’re beating on a lady, how could you Felix? I thought we were friends!”

The afternoon was spent with teasing remarks and play fights. Even though Narcisse couldn’t leave the manor walls, he could still watch from the paintings that hung around. It was heartwarming to see the young master smiling with pure intent and not his usual malicious grin. And it was also refreshing to see Felix have fun again, the stuck-up rich boy was always a stickler for rules that it was always hard to get him to hang out with the other kids his age. Then Bridgette entered the picture and Felix would only join whatever game if she was playing and looking at this scene, history was repeating itself; Marinette had entered the picture and Felix would now only laugh and play if she was around.

Of course, this is only their second encounter. Only time would tell if they do go far, and if they did…Narcisse was really glad that the days of the witch hunts were over, he doubt Paris would survive another curse like before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: had to do a quick name change


	5. Strife to Laugh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Miraculous of Salt and Big Fan for helping me with this.

Before Marinette, Felix could honestly care less how much time had passed. After meeting Marinette, he kept track on their interactions; from what time she came here (twelve noon for lunch, every day after school, and every morning on weekends), what her dreams are, who her friends are, what her thoughts on school was, the list went on. As of now, today would mark the third week she became an official guest to the Culpa manor.

Three weeks of sitting for tea and enjoying each other’s company, it felt like it was longer than that. Maybe it was because he wasn’t entirely aware that she’d been trespassing the before they met. Whatever the case was, he was going to start today with something he probably should have done when they first met; a tour of the estate. Introduce her to the wonderful staff he had, show her his favorite library, the ballroom for any and all future dances (He may start hosting again, and it was going to be a blast from the past). So much to show her but…it may have to be broken in parts, she was on limited time when lunch rolled around…and now that he thought about it, maybe it would be best to do the tour after school.

Well, no harm in introducing her to his staff.

“I trust you all know why I called you out here?” Felix asked, looking at the lineup. Before him were those who never once betrayed Bridgette; Rosaline the gardener, Juliana the stable hand, and Marc and Luka – the only two who didn’t live on the estate but instead went family hopping over the years, which was fine, whatever those two did over the years as immortals were their choices. He was pretty certain Marc went to school with Marinette, but he wasn’t entirely sure, all that came out of his mouth was how much this Nathaniel boy reminded him of Narcisse, Luka however…well he was always the quiet one. Luka lived on a boat last time he heard from him, and he was in some indie band Kitty something. The only time the two showed up was if Felix needed them for something.

“Am I safe to assume this is about Marinette?” Luka asked. “You’re not adding her to the toy box, are you?”

“Stand down, I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.” Felix assured. “She’s given me no reason to turn her into a doll.”

“Good, because she’s dealing with a maggot as is. She doesn’t need your curse to wreck her life any further.”

A maggot huh? He knew there was a bullying problem, but he assumed it was something petty. It seemed as though the Queen had unleashed a parasite into the world, he would have to fix that the first chance he got. But he would have to pry more information out, he wasn’t going to dive head first and not know his enemy, that would just cause problems.

“Of course, well, this meeting is in fact about Marinette.” He started. “I figured I’d introduce her to everyone and then give her a tour of the estate.”

Rosaline was the first to speak up. “But she knows Marc and Luka?”

“That’s what I love about our powers.” Luka went from high school boy to a young butler; a simple wardrobe change. “We can alter our appearances.” He smiled as he made do with his teal hair, black hair was a common color, right? Of course, it was.

“It feels wrong to lie to her like this.” Juliana spoke up next.

“And tell her the truth? ‘Hey Marinette, guess what Luka and I are immortal humans, we’re actually centuries years old and we just skip through time like no big deal. How did this happen? Oh, our old pal Felix gave us this gift. Of course, if your name is Narcisse, then it’s a curse and you live a wall. Hope this doesn’t freak you out.’ Yeah that conversation would go so well.” Marc rolled his eyes.

“We’ll ease her into the topic of our past.” Felix promised. “Right now, it’s far too soon to bring up what happened, and right now we need to focus on the present.”

“Of course, my lord.” Luka threw a teasing grin at him. “We shall offer the _best_ of the Culpa family hospitality.”

“Don’t get smart with me, Luka.” Felix glared.

“You’re too easy to tease.” He laughed. “Okay, for real. We’ll play our roles for today.”

“That’s all I ask.”

*****

Could class be any longer? No, scratch that. If she asked that now then the teacher would most likely surprise everyone with a quiz or something that extended into lunch time. Which is not what she wanted at all, she had something planned for Felix and it was sitting pretty in her locker; bags from her family’s bakery, she was going to introduce her friend to the wonders of homemade chocolate chip cookies, and he was going to learn how to make them. There was also a box with a ribbon as well, but that was for after cookie breaks.

Right now, however, she was just dying inside. Lectures were fine and dandy but in that short five minute brief she had to put up with Lila’s web of lies; how she and Clara Nightingale and Jagged Stone were best friends (they weren’t, Marinette designed for them and knew for a fact neither of the two knew this bitch), how she stayed at Ali’s palace and how luxurious her room was, it was just nauseating to listen to day after day. Maybe she could sneak out? Yeah that could work, after all, hardly anyone notices where she vanished off to so it was no skin off her back if she left an hour early.

“Going to see your imaginary friend, Marinette?” Lila called.

Damn her. All eyes were on Marinette now, her classmates were honed in and asking her what Lila had meant.

“Felix isn’t imaginary, Lila.” She sighed. “He lives in a manor on Culpa Road.”

“See, that’s where you’re lying.” Lila smirked. “That place had been abandoned for years! It’s closed off to the public.”

“That’s not true you lying bitch.” Marinette hissed, ignoring her classmates’ reactions. “If you and anyone else would stop being so superstitious about that damn road and stop treating it like a ghost story, you would be able to see that the manor is still standing and that someone does indeed live there!”

“Fine, prove it to us. Take us to your _friend’s_ manor.” She challenged. “Take us to the famous Culpa Road where people go insane.”

“Only if you prove to us that you truly know Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale.” She countered. “Prove that to us first and I’ll take you to see Felix.”

“Marinette, Stop!” Alya pulled her back. “Seriously girl, you have got to stop picking fights with her for no reason. First it was about her hearing problems, then it was calling her first dress design slut wear, then you show up in a fancy green dress to make her feel bad-”

“The same dress she poured her disgusting smoothie on?” Marinette snapped. “That wasn’t an accident anyone with eyes can see she deliberately poured it over my head! You know what, enough is enough, I am not going to waste time arguing with a blind sheep.” She grabbed her bag and stormed out. “If you truly want to talk to me, come to Culpa Road.”

*****

Under different circumstances Felix would find someone pacing and ranting about people entertaining. It was usually his way to exploit someone’s weakside and…well, he did manage to convince Mister Henry Ravenswood to remove the suitors from his daughter’s life. Of course, that in turn caused the old man to become a phantom and haunt the old Ravenswood manor. Actually, now that he thought about it, the poor bride to be was probably haunting the halls too, looking for her groom. Ah well, wasn’t his problem. What was his problem however was the sight before him; Marinette was just steaming; she was on a war path and insulting most of her classmates.

“And yes, I’m still pissed about that smoothie! I spent all night working on that dress, I was going to show it to you last week.” She flopped on the couch. “But oh no, ‘it was an accident, Lila didn’t mean to pour her drink over your head’ Lila this. Lila that. Lila can’t do wrong because we’re too blind to see she’s lying through her teeth!”

Felix laid a hand on her shoulder. “If it helps any, I know your pain. There was this girl I knew years back; she was a viper.” He took a breath of air. “A girl with the face of an angel but a pitch-black soul, she would manipulate others to get her way and she tried that tactic with my family; claiming that I had proposed to her, saying that my girlfriend cheated on me, the list goes on.”

“What happened to her?”

“Good question, she just vanished one day and I never saw her again. But the damage she left was still there, I’m sorry, but I think that’s a story for another day. I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh?” That lifted her spirits. “What is it?”

“Follow me, I’ll show you.”

That’s how the tour happened; he did as plan and introduced her to the staff, showed her some of his favorite spots, and even giving a brief history of the place. Once or twice when they stopped in a room Marinette would go off and explore; one such case was the taxidermy room, she picked up an old gun and aimed it at a mounted boar’s head. Everything was fascinating to her; the history of his ancestors, the rooms he showed off, and even the master bedroom where she jumped on the four-post bed and laughing at how soft it was and how much of an awesome pillow fort one could make out of it. Once they reached the kitchen, Marinette brought out her surprise for him; baking supplies.

Teaching Felix to bake was…chaotic. It started off just fine, but somehow or another; both parties were covered in flour, now that Marinette had thought about it, they most likely waged war on each other with the remaining flour while the cookies were in the oven. In the end, both parties had to change clothes while the flour coated ones were in the wash; Felix in another one of his formal wear, and Marinette in an old night gown. The clock chiming had interrupted them signaling to Marinette that it was time to return to school, however she just agreed to miss one day of school. Mostly because she was still tired from that pointless argument with her classmates, they had her number they could text or even ask her mom if she was still with Felix.

“If you want to invite your idiotic classmates over, you can, only if it shuts them up for a while.” Felix held her close.

She shook her head. “No, then you’d be tempted to mount their heads on the wall.”

“Actually, I’d just bury them in the cemetery out back.”

She laughed. “You’re so horrible.”

“Am I?” He grinned. “Well, since I’m horrible, me experimenting on you would be no surprise.”

“Got a monster in the basement?”

“Looking for a bride, yes. You’re just the perfect type for it.”

“Oh, please don’t cut me up, mad doctor, I’ll find you a prettier girl to be your monster’s bride!”

“I doubt there’s a girl in the world that’s prettier than you, my dear.” Felix picked her up and held her over his shoulder. “Sorry, but you’re stuck with us now.”

Marinette, on the surface she seemed like your typical girly girl. Well, she was, but she also had a love for Gothic Horror and it was one of their bonding moments together. Being able to joke around like this and laugh at the confused look of anyone who didn’t get the context of said jokes. It appeared as though Felix would have to up his game when entertaining the strange girl in his arms.


	6. Weekend Pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do Pandas do when we can't sleep? We update the fics of course!

It wasn’t like he needed sleep but there were times Felix would go to bed to experience dreams. Dreams like being with Marinette until the end of time, holding her in his arms and enjoying her warm embrace, seeing her in a wedding dress – form fitting with a sweetheart neckline, living together in the manor while the curse over Paris faded. But those were dreams, and he did plan to make them a reality someday. No, not someday, he was going to ask to court her today. It was seven in the morning, he had two hours to get to the bakery before Marinette showed up to his manor, it was all the time he needed to stop at the local jewelry shop to pick up a gift and also to stop at his favorite café for a quick drink to prepare himself. Marinette’s energy was sometimes too much to keep up with, and he was going to need the caffeine shot if he was going to survive this weekend; again, he truly didn’t need it, but damn if coffee hadn’t improved since then.

Arriving at the bakery, Felix brushed out his vest and walked through the front door with confidence. A quick glance around showed some patrons enjoying a fresh baked breakfast treat as well as a woman at the counter tending to customers. Clutching the small box in his hands, he walked up to the woman and cleared his throat before speaking.

“Excuse me, miss? Is Marinette available?” he asked.

The woman looked up at him, “She’s asleep right now.” She said in a careful tone

Felix looked at the clock, it was eight o clock, what time did she usually wake up around this time? He knew she showed up at his manor around nine in the morning, so she had to be awake soon right?

“I see, I must have mistimed my visit then.” He muttered. “I was hoping to surprise her by visiting her instead.”

The woman took that info in before raising an eyebrow. “Are you Felix?” she asked

“Yes ma’am, I am. Has she told you about me?”

Her personality did a complete 180 as a smile appeared on her face. “She has! Ever since she first met you, she would just go on about how kind you’ve been to her lately, she loves your manor by the way; her favorite spot was once your gardens but now she loves the ballroom and would talk about-”

“Mom!” came a mortified tone.

Felix looked up at the stairs and saw a blushing Marinette, Mrs. Cheng was giggling at her daughter’s reaction. The sight of Marinette blushing and being flustered over the conversation was a delightful sight to behold, oh…oh was Felix going to tease her about this at a later date. To prevent her mother from saying anything else, Marinette rushed over and dragged Felix upstairs and just like their first meet, she kept going ‘I’m so sorry’ and trying to cover up for the ballroom comment. If she got this flustered over a simple topic, he could only imagine how flustered she was going to be when he asked for her hand in the dating scene – there was going to be a chance of her fainting on the spot, he could see it now.

“So, Felix, what brings you here?” She sat at her desk.

Pink. Pink was everywhere in her room. Pink and fashion designs, magazines with that model boy on the cover (and also some notes scribbled on the articles inside), and a miniature schnauzer watching him from her bed. This girl was too pure for this world, he had no chance with her. She’s an angel and he’s a demon. Nope, aborting mission.

He quickly recovered. “I decided to switch things up, you’re always visiting me and I thought I should return the gesture.”

She smiled. “Well that’s great! I have some things planned for us, there’s a movie I want to introduce you to but we have to watch some episodes of the T.V. series first so you have some context in what’s going on. Oh! And there’s a book series I think you might like too, you’re always into horror and I think this series is up your ally.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get to it then.”

Marinette smiled and quickly got her computer booted up; oh, Felix was going to lose his mind after today.

*****

“What the hell did I just watch?” Felix blurted out. Marinette was just laughing so hard, tears were streaming, he just stared at her. “Since when was organ snatching considered kid friendly?” that just got her to laugh even harder. “Please tell me the movie isn’t like this, actually no, scratch that, we’re not watching the movie.”

Marinette finally got her breath back. “No, we’re watching it. You’re sitting through it, Felix. I sat through you reading Gothic Literature to me, now you’re sitting through Invader Zim.”

As if saved by the bell, or rather saved by the mother, Sabine came up with another woman and a child. He breathed a sigh of relief as Marinette quickly closed out of the tabs that had the Invader Zim nonsense, he had his doubts that he could sit through whatever madness the movie had in store for him. Of course, now this meant his time with Marinette might be cut short, turns out the woman beside Sabine was a family friend and she would come over with a babysitting request. Hm, perhaps he could use this in his favor, and it appeared that Sabine had the same idea as him. Great minds think alike, if he played his cards right then at the end of the day, he just got himself a girlfriend (and if he and Marinette continued to get closer then marriage might be coming around the corner). No. No, he had to stay in the present, he had to focus on helping Marinette with an energetic child.

“Nadja, this is Felix.” Sabine introduced. “He’s the boy that I was telling you about, the same one that Marinette visits every day?”

Something clicked. “Oh! The same boy who lives on Culpa Road?” Nadja asked

Felix sighed, “Here we go; let’s get the curse questions out of the way.”

“Oh no, I don’t buy into that ‘curse’ story.” Nadja assured. “I won’t deny that some weird things do happen on that road, but it’s not the cause of a fictional curse. But more importantly, are you sure that it’ll be fine leaving Manon with you two? I know you’re Marinette’s guest and this is last minute-”

“Ma’am, it’s fine.” Felix assured. “If I can handle Marinette, I think I can handle Manon.”

That was enough convincing she needed, he smiled as Nadja gave Manon a hug and gave the ‘be good’ talk to her before leaving with Sabine. Almost as instantly as she left, Manon rushed over and jumped into Marinette’s arms, happy to see her favorite babysitter again and asking about Felix; ‘Is he the same boy that gave you the dolls’ and his personal favorite ‘Is he your boyfriend?’ oh not yet he’s not.

“No! I mean…I would like it if Felix was my boyfriend.” It dawned on Marinette; she was still sitting next to Felix. “Wait, that came out wrong!”

Felix chuckled. “I think someone needs to clear her head.” He turned to Manon. “What do you think, Manon? How does a walk to the zoo sound?”

“You’re not going to kiss, are you?” Manon stuck her tongue out.

Not in front of an audience he won’t.

“Marinette confirmed I’m not her boyfriend, I can’t really kiss her, now can I?” Manon just shook her head. “So, to the zoo then?”

“To the zoo!” Manon cheered.


	7. Weekend Pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay after I upload this I am going to try going to bed

The trip to the zoo was the easy part, Marinette and Felix agreed to let Manon pick out the exhibits to visit first; the monkeys. Nothing else, she just wanted to see the monkeys mostly, she of course followed through with seeing the panther and the other big cats in the area. Today was actually the perfect time to head out to the zoo; the breeze was gentle, it was a clear sunny day, and the crowd control wasn’t so congested. All actually seemed to go well so far, especially when he was holding Manon in one arm to get a better look at a climbing monkey and Marinette in the other arm in a subtle side hug.

“Can you climb as high as a monkey, Manon?” Marinette asked.

The little girl shook her head and giggled. “No.”

“No?” Felix looked down at her. “But you have boundless of energy, I’m sure you can climb like a monkey.”

She just laughed some more. “Can we get ice cream after this?”

Both Felix and Marinette looked at each other and nodded, there was no harm in an ice cream break. After all, they had most of the day to be out and enjoy their time together before they had to return to the bakery. They hung around the monkeys some more before they went to the restroom area for a quick ladies’ break, Felix just went to check out the gift store. Just as he walked through the door, the shift in mood changed, he felt himself glaring around the shop; something was wrong, he just couldn’t place it. His gaze landed on three laughing teens looking over stuffed animals; two girls and a boy, there was something off about them though. Now, it was against the gentleman’s code to never eavesdrop on a lady, but he could make the exception in this case.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t invite Marinette.” The first girl started. “I know she’s your friend and everything, but it feels wrong to leave her out.”

Ah so they were classmates of the girl in question. No wonder the shift of mood happened, if he had to guess the girl that’s putting on the ‘woe is me’ act is that Lila girl that Marinette butted heads with constantly.

“Felix, are we ready to go?”

He snapped back to the present and looked at Marinette who was holding Manon, he smiled and was about to answer, if not for the voice of one of her classmates.

“Marinette?” Alya came up to her. “I thought you were busy today?”

“I am?” She nodded to Manon and Felix. “I’m babysitting Manon today.”

“And the other past weekends?” Alya challenged. “Seriously, why don’t you call us to hang out anymore?”

“Because when I do you try to smuggle Lila into our plans?” She made it sound like it was obvious. “I don’t care if you want to hang out with her, I just don’t want to be anywhere near her.”

“Augh, this again?” She turned to Felix. “And if you’re babysitting, who’s this?”

“My _imaginary_ friend, Felix.” Marinette snapped. “Look, I’m sorry…Can we talk later? I’m still on babysitting duty for the day.”

Felix silently lead Manon and Marinette from the sop and away from her _friends_. Imaginary friend huh? So, Marinette wasn’t exaggerating in her stories from schools, and he got a lovely taste of the normal interactions from the school in question. How tempted he was in wanting to use the curse on them, it was so tempting indeed but, he had to hold himself back; he seriously doubted that Marinette would be too impressed with him if he started using the dark powers against her classmates, she still holds dear to her. He just had to bite back and let her take charge; he would only act if she willed it.

*****

“I can’t believe her!” Alya screamed. “She’s been brushing aside for some guy like…just who the hell is this Felix person!”

Lila shrugged. “She doesn’t really sound like a good friend if she’s choosing a guy over her friends.”

“At least we can say she’s telling the truth about Felix?” Nino tried. “I mean, we called her a liar over that?”

“Doesn’t matter, she’s still brushing us aside and she’s still being needlessly mean to Lila.” Alya spat. “I’ll bet you anything that he’s the reason she’s like this; he’s manipulating her!”

Lila smiled. “What are you suggesting?”

“We’re going to spy on them, starting Monday at lunch.”

And there was that disturbance in the breeze again. Felix turned and looked to the street behind him, he didn’t sense anyone out of the ordinary or see anyone suspicious but that didn’t mean someone somewhere was talking about him. He scowled and turned his attention back to Marinette who had gotten the couple’s bowl from Andre’s ice cream cart (well no, the man just gave her the bowl because he believed that she and Felix were a couple, this man gets it.) and Manon with her chocolate and caramel swirl, both girls were having a good day so far – minus the hiccup at the gift shop. Manon had finished her ice cream first and was starting to doze off against Marinette, be still his cold heart the sight was just precious. He and his friend finished up their bowl and decided to call it a day, carrying the tired child back to the bakery and laid her down for a nap in Marinette’s room. While the little one slept, he and Marinette had the quiet privacy to talk and relax.

“Sorry you had to see that.” Marinette sighed.

“It’s fine.” Felix laid a hand on her hand. “Your friend probably thinks ill of me.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” She scoffed. “As I said, if she wants to hang out with Liar Rossi, fine, just don’t try roping me into it.”

Felix nodded again. “You can vent about her at the manor, right now…I have been meaning to give this to you and ask you something.” He took out a small box from his breast pocket and handed it to her. “Marinette, I know it’s been a month and a half since our first meet, but” he took a breath of air. “Would you be my girlfriend?”

That’s how people ask for dates in this era, right?

Marinette took the box and opened it; she covered her mouth to hold back a squeal of delight. Sitting pretty inside the box was a ladybug necklace. She looked up at Felix and immediately hugged him, kissing his lips. Felix was taken by surprised but returned it just the same, he pulled back and smiled at her.

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes.” She grinned. “Yes, a million times over!”

Felix smiled and put the necklace on her. “Then this ladybug makes us official, Mari.”

“I’m going to have to find you an official gift now.” Marinette grinned. “But what do you get someone who is rich enough to buy Paris?”

“An island off the coast of Spain?” Felix smirked. “Oh wait, you don’t have that kind of money. I guess I can have the bakery and enjoy your homemade treats every. Single. Day.” He poked her.

“You get homemade treats every day as is!” She laughed. “You don’t need more.”

“You don’t get to decide that.” Felix laughed. “More croissants and wine while you’re at it.”

It was so hard not to continue teasing, they didn’t want to laugh and joke around too loud that they woke up their charge. But it was also hard to keep to themselves, they ended up watching the Invader Zim movie (despite Felix’s protests), but they also ended up having a few good laughs while remaining in each other’s arms. Despite the brief bitter afternoon, today was just perfectly sweet between them.


	8. Tragic History

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As much fun as I had writing the cute puppy love scenes, we all know why you're really here *pulls the angst lever*

She wasn’t certain if it was because of the weather or if it was just one of those days; but lately she felt a minor pain in her heart, a sorrowful one that is. The days leading up to this were mostly nothing but playful conversations, movies, and quiet tea breaks by the fireplace and just enjoying each other’s company, yet somewhere inside she felt like today was going to be different and not in a good way. As the bell rang to signal the beginning of lunch period, Marinette went and grabbed her umbrella from her locker and made her way to Felix’s manor. A part of her was grateful that it wasn’t a heavy storm otherwise it would have made the visit a bit more challenging than it needed to be. Like always, Culpa Road was quiet as a grave whenever she walked down its darkened streets, the rainfall wasn’t entirely helping in this case – it just made it even more eerie and gloomy. Perhaps that’s why the stories of curses and demons that lived on this street popped up, the weather just messed with everyone’s minds and skewed their rational thinking.

Keeping her head leveled, she walked up the steps to the manor and let herself in. She set the umbrella against the wall and looked around. The manor was dark and only lit up by candles, no sound was heard except for her footsteps on the tiled floor as she looked around for Felix. She eventually found him in the foyer where they would sit and relax, only like the rest of the manor it was dark and was only lit up by the fireplace. Not wanting to startle Felix, she knocked on the doorframe to announce herself.

“Felix?” She called.

The blond looked over at her and forced a smile on his face. “Marinette, I didn’t hear you enter the manor. When did you get here?”

“About five minutes ago.” She walked up to him. “Are you okay? Did I come at a bad time?”

“You’re fine, it’s just that.” He stopped for a moment. “Rainy days are never a good time here at the manor, they tend to bring up way too many bad memories.”

She squeezed his hand in hers. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Felix thought for a long moment before slowly nodding, perhaps this would be good; he trusted Marinette with everything. He could tell his story to her. After leading her to their couch he closed his eyes and took a breath of air, this wasn’t going to be a pretty story.

“Many years ago, the Culpa family were once a prominent family; this manor, their old home, would host various gatherings, and it was here that my grandfather had met Bridgette. She was a strange woman; always wearing short dresses and exposing her ankles, dancing like there was no care in the world, she was everything a proper woman wasn’t.” he started out. “Despite that, she always found a way to make people smile; even my grandfather who was known as the ice king. Every slow dance she would rush up to him, grab him by the wrist and drag him to the dance floor; surprisingly, she was a good dancer. Since then, those two were always together…usually by her forcing him to socialize with her friends.”

He could still hear her laughter in the ballroom as well as seeing her dance the night away in that dark blue dress of hers. Felix smiled a little and placed a hand over his heart, she was the first woman to have made his heart skip.

“Of course, before Bridgette there was another woman who kept trying to win my grandfather’s heart.” His tone turned to ice. “She was the opposite of Bridgette, her heart was black as coal and tried every trick in the book to win him over; lying about her wealth status, spreading rumors about other women, you name it, she tried it. Fortunately for him, he wasn’t known as the ice king for no reason; he was cold to almost everyone who he saw was beneath him, including this woman. He flat out told her in front of everyone at the party that he would rather marry the devil himself than her and that she was more of a harlot than a woman. She didn’t take that too kindly.”

And now the bitter feeling returned. If he could turn back the hands of time, he would have removed her tongue to keep her from spilling lies.

“She decided to get back at my grandfather for choosing Bridgette over her by any means necessary, including a false accusation of witchcraft. Bridgette was in town handing out wedding invites when they arrested her and burned her at the stake.” He turned to face Marinette. “Do you know why people call this road cursed? It’s because my grandfather truly did turn to the arts of black magic. He cursed the town after losing her, turned Paris into his own toybox. Tortured the citizens, killed people just for fun, the smart ones moved from here when he was at his height but for those who remained…well, the ones who died were buried in the graveyard behind the manor.”

Marinette felt the room grow cold despite the fire going. Ignoring the talk of magic, she felt her heart twist and tears forming in her eyes. Two lovers were taken away from each other because of a woman’s jealousy, it wasn’t unheard of but it just made her upset, if she could go back in time, she’d probably start a cat fight and defend Bridgette’s honor (that was if Bridgette hadn’t punched the jealous woman already). Hurt and anger were all she felt at this point; hurt for the Culpa family, hurt for Bridgette who was more than ready to marry her lover on the spot, hurt for Felix’s grandfather who had to watch his bride-to-be burn. The anger portion was mixed, she was upset that someone had to cry wolf but for some reason she was also upset about the curse that was placed on Paris. Without so much as blinking, she looked at Felix and uttered one sentence.

“Take me to the graveyard.”

*****

The rain was starting to let up as the two walked down the lines. Names of the old toys were engraved; Alyssa C, Nicholas L, and so on. There were a few historical figures on the line but those didn’t really matter as much; it was amazing seeing a grave that had Marie Antoinette’s name on it, but Marinette wasn’t here for the former queen. She stopped in front of the desecrated grave and read it; “Here rots the Queen of Maggots, may her legacy be forever forgotten.”

“The jealous whore.” Felix confirmed in an icy tone. “Hated by everyone in the family that they essentially erased her from history, there are theories that she might have some things left behind they didn’t know about; however, it didn’t really stop the Culpa family from denying her memory from living on. Any family she might have had were informed that she never once stepped foot into Paris.”

“Okay, and what about the grave beside her?” Marinette asked. “Alyssa?”

“Once a best friend to Bridgette.” He answered, venom dripping. “The two were once the closest of friends, yet Alyssa here, decided to follow the Maggot’s claims of witchcraft and turned on her best friend. She was blind to the truth and it costed the life of an innocent woman.” He had a small grin on his face. “She went mad and stabbed her eyes out, tragic really.”

Each tombstone had a different reaction; those who were following the Maggot blindly were met with a hated tone, Felix was more than ready to kill them a second time. But then those who were loyal were spoken in high praises. One tombstone did stand out though, an empty grave as Felix called it, but he still honored the person’s name. Charlotte.

“His first toy, a puppet.” Felix didn’t really have much of a feeling to her. “She left Paris after being crippled by my grandfather, the reason she was targeted was because she never bothered to stop the witch hunts. Some may say it was because she was young and had no power, but the family thought otherwise.”

“What happened to her?”

“As I said, she left Paris and her family returned when the old village was being torn down to make way for a bigger city. I suppose they were told of the curse because they made the orders to section this area off to turn the massacre sight into a street.”

“Does anyone have family left?”

“Why do you ask?”

Marinette fell quiet, why did she want to know? Morbid curiosity perhaps? Whatever the reason, she wanted to know more about some of the people that faced the wrath of the Culpa family. That and…there was something unsettling about Felix today, it might be because of how he spoke of everyone; with Bridgette he made it sound as though the tragedy had just happened and those who the Culpa family murdered, he took a strange cold delight in how they were killed off. Maybe she dove into the relationship with him too soon, she needed some answers about him and something in her gut told her that asking Felix head on wouldn’t go so well.

“I’m into history and family lineages!” she smiled.

Felix raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “I see…well her family name is Bourgeois.”

Great…she would have to face Chloe then. Okay, no big deal, she could deal with the Queen Bee just so long as she got her answers.

“And with that said, I think I should be heading back. I know lunch isn’t entirely over but-”

“You don’t really want to be caught out in another storm.” Felix finished for her. “Go, we can hang out another time.”


	9. Investigations and Submissions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look you get to see people in their vulnerable states

If she wanted to know about Charlotte, she had to swallow her pride and go up to Chloe. Augh, Chloe. She and Marinette had a nasty history between them throughout their years growing up and it was made clear that neither of the two wanted anything to do with the other, however, in this case, she had to make the exception to the rule. Something about Felix was…off. She personally blamed it on the puppy love they had shared with each other that caused her to just dive headfirst without actually getting to know who Felix Apluc was – and now that she has said the name she was beginning to hope that Felix only gave his last name backwards to distance himself from the ghost stories and that…No. No. They were just stories; she was certain after talking with Chloe about Charlotte that everything would be cleared up. The Culpa family never dabbled in black magic, black magic wasn’t real, and this visit at the Grand Paris Hotel was going to clear everything up.

“Marinette? What are you doing here?” Sabrina asked.

“I was hoping to see Chloe, I wanted to ask her something.”

Sabrina raised an eyebrow. “And that something is what?”

“About Charlotte, Charlotte Bourgeois?”

Sabrina bit her lips in thought before silently leading her to the spa where her friend was. Looking around, Marinette couldn’t help but be impressed by the layout of the room, but now was not the time for sight-seeing, she was on a mission and the girl on the massage table way back was her goal. Sabrina went ahead and whispered something to Chloe before motioning Marinette to come over to them.

“Sabrina said you wanted to ask me about my grandmother.” Chloe looked up at her. “What is it? Make it quick, I want to try getting the knots out of my shoulders before lunch is over.”

Marinette nodded. “Well it’s more about the family she pissed off.”

“Be more specific, she pissed everyone off.”

“Especially that one of say…Felix Culpa?”

Despite the room being naturally warm it was cold as the artic right now. Chloe and Sabrina just blanched at the name and the staff had frozen in place with a fearful expression on their face, the atmosphere was just so tensed that even the sharpest of knives couldn’t cut through it. Chloe slowly got up and redressed herself before grabbing hold of Marinette and leading her out of the spa and up to her room at the top of the hotel, this was not a conversation that needed to be held in the presence of others. Once safely inside and locked in, she sat on her lounger and sighed, trying to get her bearings together before speaking to the one girl she hated. Yeah, she didn’t like Marinette one bit, but if she knew anything about that green-eyed demon, she was milking that brat for everything she knew.

“Tell me what you know about Felix first.” Chloe demanded. “What is he up to?”

“What do you mean?” Marinette asked. “If you’re asking about his grandfather?”

“Oh! So that’s the story he’s going with now, passing his early attacks as something his ancestors did? Hate to break it to you Dupain-Cheng, but those two are one in the same. Now tell me what you know about Felix, and I’ll tell you about my family’s connection with him.”

Marinette froze a little bit at that line, her Felix was the same demon from the stories? No, that’s not possible. But she won’t get anywhere unless she follows Chloe’s demands and let her know about him, letting her shoulders drop she began telling her everything.

“I don’t know what he’s been doing before he met me in the gardens, but what I do know is that he and I mostly shared lunch together over tea mostly. He would ask about my school life and I would tell him, he showed me around his manor one day and most of the time if we have time to spare, we’d spend it reading gothic literature.”

“Cute, so how does he react to your school life?”

“I mean, he looked like he was ready to murder Alya after I told him about her enabling Lila’s behavior.”

“Did anything about him change? Room dropping temperature despite it being warmed up by a fireplace?” Marinette’s shocked reaction was all the confirmation needed. “Yeah, he probably is going to kill your friend if she ever shows up on that cursed road. I bet he showed you his family’s cemetery too.”

“He did, but why does that matter anything?”

“Look, that gravesite is more of his trip down memory lane.” Chloe said softly. “He visits there to relive the days of him torturing someone or killing them in a brutal way, the people who got it worse were those who were involved in the witch hunt against his bride-to-be. My grandma was lucky to have make it out in one piece, crippled, but she was still alive.”

“About your grandma, did she have the power to stop the hunt?” Marinette sat beside her.

“She did.” She admitted. “Her father was out of town and that meant she was in charge; she could have truly stopped the hunts if she wanted to. And before you ask why didn’t she; it’s because someone threatened her, I don’t know the exact details because she didn’t specify it in her journal but what I do know is that someone threatened her to keep quiet. I guess she was afraid of a mob coming after her in vigilante justice or something.”

“That’s horrible.” Marinette took her hand in hers. “I’m sorry, Chloe.”

“Yeah well, it was in the past. We’re focusing on the now, and right now you’re in serious danger Marinette.” She got up and went to get a scrapbook from her closet, it was pretty old but it was still holding together nicely. “Here, this is everything my family has on Felix, what he looked like at the time and what his activities were.”

She flipped to a recent page, ten years ago. Just the sight of that page alone made Marinette’s heart stop in place, Felix looked the same he did then as well as how he looked years before. The scary part wasn’t that the stories of Felix and his demon status being true, it was her not even flinching at the fact he did all those horrible things. She felt bad for Charlotte, she was an innocent party, but the others in the cemetery like Alyssa she didn’t felt a bit of pity for. That was the scary part.

“Chloe, I’m actually dating him.” Marinette said softly.

“I’m amazed. Usually he gives the person nightmares first before he bothers getting to know them.” She leaned on her arms. “Of course, you got me curious now, how did you tame the demon”

“I wouldn’t give him room to speak in my apology rant, he invited me in for lunch and we got to know each other a little. Day by day, we got close and just last weekend he gave me a ladybug necklace.”

“And this is why I hate you, you’re just so damn nice to everyone you meet! It’s the reason why people take advantage of you – no, don’t you dare argue that people don’t. I’ve seen it, our classmates use you as a doormat because of you being so nice and willing to give the shirt off your back to them. Just a smile and a hello are all you need to get people to like you. And the free cakes, but that’s not the important thing, the important thing is that your pretty smile tamed the damn Demon of Culpa Road!” Chloe just stared at Marinette who was just laughing at this point. “Uh why are you laughing?”

“I’m sorry!” Marinette settled herself down. “It’s just…Okay you have a point about the others but, you hate me because I didn’t have to do much to make people like me?”

“Well…Look at you, you’re nothing special and you’re basically Jagged Stone’s niece and Clara Nightingale’s best friend forever and all you had to do was show an act of kindness. Well that and you’re so creative too, I mean you became their personal designer because of what you can come up with at the snap of the finger.”

“All I did for Jagged was to get him those sunglasses?”

“That you made in a short record of time and had him sing your praise?”

“Okay, you got me there. But Chloe, you’re basically swimming in celebrity contacts. You’ve used Jagged to help with you being voted in as class rep.”

Chloe sighed. “Yeah, but in the end, people voted you. Again, all you have to do is show one small drop of kindness and augh…look, how many times do I have to say I’m jealous of you for you to get the damn picture?”

Marinette had a cheeky grin. “You have to keep apology to make up for the four years you’ve made my life hell.” She teased. That earned a pillow to the face. “Oh, it is on, Chloe.”

“Bring it, Marinette!”

The investigation could wait. After all, Marinette had gained some interesting information from Chloe, both past and present. And in some weird way, they were able to recover and have a good old fashion pillow fight. Her work was far from done, she would still have to ask Sabrina to help with the records that came from Culpa Road, but that would have to wait until after lunch and after school. Visiting Felix would have to wait.

*****

“You’re stressed, more so than usual.”

Felix hummed and looked at the clock. “She shows up at noon every day, lunch hour is almost over.” He turned to the lavender haired boy beside him. “You go to her school, are there any tests I should know about that might hold her back?’

The boy shook his head. “Not one, semester finals don’t begin until next month. But Marinette did say something about doing some kind of research, I followed her up to the Grand Paris Hotel where Charlotte’s descendants live.”

He felt his eye twitched a bit. “Joe, you told me that Marinette and Chloe never got along, why would she go there of all places.”

“Wish I could tell you.” Joe stood up. “Come on, I know what will make you better.”

Felix reluctantly followed him down the halls and into the grand ballroom, it was still messy from a recent masked party – he still had to get around cleaning up, but just walking around the room with his swordsman did help ease his mind and soul. It was in this room after all that he had met Bridgette. Oh, he could see it now; that short dark blue dress that swayed with each twirl and shake of her hips, her untidy hair bouncing with her dance, and her delightful smile and laugh. If he closed his eyes, he could hear her now.

“You were so happy back then.” Joe smiled. “I never saw anyone who could get you to laugh and have a good time like her.”

“I only laughed and smiled because she wouldn’t stop bothering me.” Felix returned the smile.

“Same as ever, Felix. Never wanting to admit that someone made your heart skip.” His friend chuckled. “I’m curious though, why didn’t you give Marinette a nightmare the first day you met? Usually, if you found someone in your garden you ordered them to leave yet instead you invited her in for tea and to talk.”

Felix kicked a deflated balloon away. “I’ve been asking myself that question and I could never find an answer. I suppose that…”

“That?”

“Call it me not letting go of the past but, she reminded me so much of the days when Bridgette would climb the gates and scale the manor just to see me.” Felix sighed. “I guess my actions were me not truly letting go of the past.”

“Her stories do match up with the past, I know we’re way beyond past the days of the witch hunt but…I do still worry about this little liar in her school.” Joe muttered as he tossed a piece of streamer away. “I’ll bet you anything that this is just child’s play and that the antics are going to rise to the point of another false accusation.”

“I’ll kill that maggot before it ever happens.” He hissed. “And speaking of maggots, are you one hundred percent certain that classmate is _her_ descendant?”

“As certain as the sun.” He watched Felix crush a mask in his hand. “Fe, please, I swore as your best friend and swordsman I would never let any harm befall Marinette. Luka and Marc made the same vow, we won’t let this maggot ruin her life.” He gently held his hand. “When have we ever failed you?”

“Let’s see…” Felix smirked. “There was the time you failed to get the finest wine at the engagement party, then there was the time Luka failed to get us tickets to see Carmen – I had to use the curse to worm our way to see it, and don’t get me started with you and Marc on the Campania – zombie attack?”

“Hey it’s not our fault someone decided to reenact Reanimator!”

Felix chuckled. “Keep telling yourself that, Joe.”

“You’re the worst, I hate you.” He elbowed him. “I surrender my immortality status now.”

Felix laughed. “Oh no you don’t, I decide who remains immortal and who doesn’t!”

“And you rag on us for not stopping Herbert West from playing with life or death!”

Their antics went on the rest of the afternoon. Ever since he had met Marinette, Felix was able to smile more and laugh more, there was still the worry of what they would do when she found out about everything and it scared them. Would she still accept him? Would she just turn and run and forget about him? The four respected Marinette and would continue to do so, they just needed a solid game plan for when the time of reveal actually came. Then there was the maggot at school, no-one was certain what they should do, it wasn’t like before where they could just kill her and erase her from existence. For the time being, they just decided to focus on their angel and worry about everything else when the time comes. Everyone had their role to play and they would be watching and observing before acting out their orders and the orders were that the second anyone laid a hand on Marinette in any way shape or form…well, it was a good thing casts existed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember the lavender haired beauty from Collinswood that I just added? Yeah well my co-conspirator of everything is awesome and I love them, so Felix has gained another ally. Fight Me.


	10. Suggestions and Surprises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Mari learns the horrifying truth

**Thud!**

“The police didn’t start collecting data until the 20s and even then, they marked up most of the incidents as freak accidents at the time.” Sabrina informed. “Then again, I’m certain that it was because Coke had a hand in it. Feel free to go through everything, it’s labeled unsolvable for a reason after all.”

“Thanks?”

Marinette started to go through the box that was filled with old and worn pictures, newspaper clippings, lab results, everything dating from the start of the twenties to ten years ago. A good deal of the news articles detailed grisly acts performed on groups of teenagers such as; a case dubbed as the Alice Killings where five individuals were either tortured or given a swift death. The headshot wasn’t a pretty sight and made Marinette’s stomach churn. Then there was the case back in the 60s where a high school football player was stuffed and turned into a scarecrow and the same year where kids went missing save for one who was covered in spiders. Finally, ten years ago, a group of friends played Truth or Dare that resulted in a grisly blood shed and only one survivor made it out with acid burns on their face.

“All this happened on that road?” Marinette choked out.

“Possibly.” Sabrina shrugged. “We know the road’s brutal history has been going on for years and we’ve only just started recording, as I had stated earlier, back then the incidents were just labeled as freak accidents.”

“Freak accidents?!” Marinette held up a crime scene photo, someone was being pulled out of an iron maiden. “Sabrina, how was this a freak accident!”

“The force back then was just as stupid as they are today!” Sabrina huffed; she fell silent before doing a doubletake at the picture. “Uh Marinette, can I see that picture for a second?”

“Sure.” She handed it to her.

Sabrina looked it over and squinted a bit, she grabbed another picture and did the same. It continued before her eyes widened and she laid them out in front of her new ‘detective’ friend.

“Mari, look.” She pointed to them. “There’s someone other than the victims in these shots!”

“What?” She looked them over. Sure enough, a masked figure was spotted in each of the pictures.

The masked figure’s face, though some of the photos were monochrome, it could be made out that the mask had some metallic paint on the lips and around the eyes. The mask was similar to a Carnival mask used in Venice, the figure’s body was draped in a black colored robe hiding any other features; had it not been for the eyes in the holes of the mask, it would pass as a mannequin.

Both girls looked at each other and grabbed what they could before rushing over to where officer Roger – Sabrina’s dad was stationed; they brought their findings to him and even circled the masked figure to show that he was in there over time. Since they had some lead, all they had to do was find that mask in particular and then there’s the proof that the incidents on Culpa Road were nothing more than someone being a murderous monster. There was no curse!

“I don’t know girls.” Roger started off. “It may just be some creep who just stalks the crime scenes, I doubt he or she has anything to do with it at all.” He gently slid the folder back towards the two.

“But dad!” Sabrina protested. “The same ‘creep’ shows up even in the crime scene photos from ten years ago! There has to be a connection with that mask!”

“Sweetie, we’ve tried looking into the mask link so many times and nothing came up. It’s just a Venetian Carnival Mask that you can get anywhere in Italy, anyone could have bought that mask. Heck, anyone could have bought multiples of the same mask, you know how crazy Carnival can get?”

“Still that meant something manmade is going on over on Culpa Road.” Marinette pressed on. “If you’d just reopen the case then” she stopped, for a brief moment she saw the officer’s eyes glaze over. “Officer Roger?”

“Girls, I appreciate that you’re interested in police work, but there is no connection to the mask at all. It is only a lurker.” His speech changed a bit, movements were a little stiffed. “I think it’s time you two head home for the day.”

Sabrina looked at Marinette with an apologetic glance as they walked out, there was a quick flash of movement by the window. Marinette hurried to follow, only to see a black bird fly off. Strange, where did that bird come from? Actually, the better question was, how long was that bird listening in on them? It might have just been a regular bird, but somewhere in her heart she knew that wasn’t the case and she was hoping her hunch was wrong about that feathered creature. Reluctantly, she followed Sabrina back to the school, lunch time was nearly over and over the short span of time she learned more than enough.

The bird sat on a flagpole and watched the two before flying into an alleyway. Landing gracefully on a teenager’s hand and giving a loud cawing noise.

“Good boy, Edgar.” The teen cooed. “Now you just have to report back to Fe’”

*****

School just couldn’t go fast enough as Marinette found herself staring at the clock more than usual, tapping her pen rapidly as she just wanted the day to end. The plan for today was simple, confront Felix with the knowledge she had, he and his family lived on that road for generations, surely, he knows something that the police force didn’t? Surely, he could put these rumors to rest once and for all? All these thoughts were coming in like a freight train and clouding her surroundings, she barely even heard the bell in time. One gentle shake from her teacher to break her out of her trance-like state was the saving grace.

“Marinette, is everything okay?” Caline asked.

She just nodded. “I’m just worried about a friend is all.”

“Alya has expressed concerns about you too.” Caline confirmed. “She said you might be in an abusive relationship with a boy?”

“What?! No” Marinette snapped. “First off; I’m talking about the friend that I made at the beginning of the year, his name is Felix. I usually visit him during lunch or after school. Second off; I’m not being abused, Alya suspects – with no proof to the claims might I add, that Felix is abusing me because she didn’t leave a good first impression on him, and to add the sweet cherry on top, she’s trying to control my relationship with him because of the claims of her new friend over me.”

“Marinette, settle down.” She ordered calmly. “I know you want to defend Felix’s honor, but if he’s hurting you, you need to tell someone.”

“He’s not hurting me; I don’t even have a bruise on me!”

“Doesn’t mean he’s not hurting you mentally.” She reminded. “Now what has he done to get you worried about him?”

“It’s just that the road he lives on has a bad reputation and I’m worried the rumors are getting to him.”

“Well, if you’re that worried about his reputation, maybe it would be best if you took a break from each other?” Caline offered.

“You mean break up with him?” Marinette asked in disbelief. “Where did you get a troubled romantic relationship out of being concerned for a friend?”

“I’m just saying”

“And I’m just going to walk out of here before we both say or do something that we’re both going to regret.”

Marinette grabbed her things and hurried out of the classroom and the school; she wasted enough time with the ‘helpful conversation’ she had earlier and she probably worried Felix enough as is with her absence this afternoon and the last thing she needed was to give him a reason to come hunting her down instead. That would not only solidify Alya’s claims of her boyfriend being an abusive bastard, but it would also cause problems to any third parties that were unfortunate enough to get caught in the crossfire.

Down the quiet shadowy road and up the winding path to the manor, Marinette was greeted to the familiar sight of the pristine white manor with the onyx sidings. She felt herself relax at the sight, there was no curse; if there was, the manor would look all vine covered and well, cursed. She’s seen the movie Haunted Mansion so many times so she knew what a cursed manor looked like and the Culpa Manor didn’t look anything like that. Okay, yeah, there was the cemetery out back, but didn’t most rich people have private cemeteries or their own crypts? She shook her head to clear her thoughts, she needed to keep a level head. She needed to hear Felix’ side of the story before she made any crazy accusations, otherwise she’d be doing the same stunt as her ‘friend’ Alya, and she was above that.

As she made her way up the path, a figure became apparent in the back garden. The masked man from the photographs; the black robe was the same, but the mask was shown to have accents of gold and blue. Pursed lips in a shimmering gold with drooping points of blue lined in gold. His eyes were sort of milky color, glossed over his pupils as he waved at her. Marinette froze at the sight of the man, the same man from the crime scene photos throughout history. Straightening her shoulders and putting on a confident air, she approached him.

“I’m sorry sir, but the owner of this manor doesn’t entirely like uninvited guests.” She said, trying to mimic Felix’s stern voice.

The figure placed a hand by his mouth and gave a silent chuckle before holding up a staff key.

“You’re a staff member here?” she asked cautiously.

A simple nod.

“Felix didn’t introduce you?”

A shrug was his reply. Not giving Marinette room to talk he opened the gate and motioned her to the manor’s steps, bowing at the waist as she walked by him. Okay, so that was another question to ask Felix; what’s the story with your masked staff member? Shuddering in uneasiness, she quickened her pace and let herself into the manor; slamming the door shut. She wasn’t going to risk letting that masked figure chase her in and possibly stab her! Halloween and Friday the 13th taught her well.

Her actions met with Felix at the top of the staircase looking down at her. “You certainly look like you ran a marathon, what on earth happened?”

“There’s a weird masked man in your garden!” she blurted out.

Felix nodded and laid a hand on his chin. “I thought I was forgetting to introduce you to someone.” He mused. “Don’t worry, Cantarella is harmless, he’s just the groundskeeper. He mostly tends to the cemetery, so he’s hardly around the other staff.”

Okay, that put her mind at ease. She just met a weird groundskeeper that was named after a deadly poison and who deals with the graves in the backyard! Everything was not adding up in her favor about the curse being real. No, she had to get his side first before conclusions.

“Felix, I have something to ask of you.” She started. “Do I have your solid word that what you say to me, is the complete and honest truth?”

“Of course, Mari.” He walked down the stairs. “I would never lie to you; I would never hide anything from you.”

She watched him carefully. “Felix, how old are you exactly?”

That got him to halt his steps, traditionally he would be around nineteen when he was in his prime back in the 1400s. But it’s been so long now, he truly didn’t know how old he was in this era. However, he was a man of his word, and he just promised he wouldn’t hide anything from her.

“I honestly don’t know.” He replied softly, he walked up to her. “It’s actually been a while since I’ve celebrated my birthday.” He forced a laugh.

“When was the last time you celebrated your birthday? At least give me the year you did?”

“My nineteenth birthday back in 14xx.”

She felt her blood run cold, that was the final nail. The curse was real and her boyfriend was the famous demon the stories talked about and the same demon that Chloe warned her about. Her stomach churned again; she was going to be sick!

“Felix Culpa…You’re…Felix please tell me you’re joking with me!” she begged. “Tell me, tell me right now that you’re not-”

“The Demon of Culpa Road.” Someone finished for her. “Afraid he is, my dear.”

Out from the shadows came Luka, instead of the raven-haired butler she had met she was face to face with her friend and classmate; dark blue hair, aqua-green eyes, and his favorite Jagged Stone shirt and jeans. Her heart sank even further, her vision was starting to blur. This was a dream; this was just a dream!

Breaking her out of her trance, the door opened and another familiar face walked in. The light lavender hair and those friendly sapphire blue eyes, another one of her classmates; holding some grocery bags and a rather large receipt.

“Okay Fe, I got the stuff for dinner tonight” Joe announced. “Mari is going to love – Oh…uh hi Mari!” He greeted after noticing her, he turned back to Felix. “So, does she know we’re immortal now or?”

**Thud**

Laying there out cold was Marinette. No one could blame her for fainting at the news, she just learned some of her dear friends were immortal and that her boyfriend really was a demon that cursed the town. It was all too much to process at once that everything just shut down.

Luka gently picked her up and supported her head, looking at Felix with a pained smile.

“I say that went well.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buy Culpa Cola, you will think your neighbor is a demon


	11. Confrontations

Marinette wasn’t certain how long she was out nor why her bed was suddenly comfy, what she was certain was that she had a crazy and overwhelming dream. One that where after she woke up, she would be able to laugh it off with Felix when she got to school the next day. Opening her eyes, she found herself in a lavish bedroom with very fine furniture and felt her heart sink; it wasn’t a dream, what happened was reality! Felix was a fucking demon! She was dating a demon from the pits of hell itself! She held her head and took a few breaths to settle herself down, now wasn’t the time to panic, she had to keep a level head if she was going to try confronting Felix again. She got out of bed and got her shoes on before making her way out and into the parlor where the boys were. She watched as they played a round of cards before clearing her throat to announce her presence, Joe was the first to turn to her with a bright smile

“Well, looks like you woke up!” He said.

“We’re playing poker if you want to join in.” Marc offered

“Thanks, but no thanks.” She sat down on the lounger to look at them. “I would actually like to talk to you about…that.” She said in a soft and stern tone.

Felix sighed; he saw this coming a mile away. “Of course, where do you want us to begin?”

“Well, you can start with when we first met.” Marinette offered. “The rumors say that anyone who trespass onto the Culpa Family grounds are never heard from again, you’re the famous demon and you…never tried hurting me. Let’s start with the explanation on that.”

The boys paused in their game for a bit and looked to Felix; the blond closed his eyes and let his shoulders drop before speaking.

“You never really gave me an opening to do so.” He started out. “When we first met, I was going to give you a nightmare as a warning to never step foot on the manor grounds again, however your apology rant saved you from such a fate.” He watched as Marinette’s expression turned horrified.

“It’s how the manor works.” Luka nodded. “Felix gives a single warning through a nightmare and if the person doesn’t heed the warning.” He paused for a bit. “Well, you’ve read the case files, you tell us.”

Marinette’s gut feeling was right. That bird that was sitting in the window and listened in at the police station was Edgar, Felix’s bird. Her heart started to quicken, her blood was running cold, Felix knew. Felix knew she was starting to doubt him, and why wouldn’t she, after everything she had learned of course she was going to be wary of Felix. Especially now after learning he is the same Felix from centuries ago as the man who cursed Paris!

“What do you plan to do to me now?” she challenged. “After knowing of my little investigation?”

Marc shrugged and shuffled the cards. “Absolutely nothing.” He calmly said. “You’re different, Marinette. Even before you met Felix you kept coming back on your own free will, it surprised us all that you would even come here to begin with, especially with the rumors surrounding this place. You continued to let yourself in through the gate and relax in our garden, we weren’t certain how to deal with you when Felix was out in town, so we just watched.”

“And all you did was sketch out beautiful dresses.” Joe nodded. “We told Edgar to tell Felix we had a guest, we’re not sure where Edgar lost him due to him getting ready to cast a nightmare, but after you two talked…you still kept coming over day after day. We thought for sure after being caught by the head of the manor you wouldn’t return.”

“Well…I thought this place was marked as a historical site and that the gardens were taken care of by the city.” Marinette admitted. “And it was also the place where I knew no-one from class would bother me, you already know the reason I was coming here, so I’m going to spare you from listening to a broken record.”

“It’s a story we hear too often anyway, not just from you but others who have met a maggot similar to her.” Felix assured.

“Which brings me to this; after everything that’s been going on these past few months, with everything that you know about the strife I’ve been going through, what are you going to do? Are you going to harm my friends? My school?”

“What friends? Last time I checked, given that I am in your class, they’ve left you for the next best thing; a pretty Italian with a heart of coal.” Joe scoffed, laying out his cards. “Full house.”

“Now that you mentioned it, I have thought about giving that class you call friends endless nightmares until they go mad from sleep deprivation.” Felix mused and did the same. “Royal flush.”

“Not everyone turned to the side of Liar Rossi.” Marinette reminded.

“If you mean Miss Chloe, then you’re right.” Luka shuffled and dealt the new hand. “But hasn’t she made your life hell?”

“Once upon a time, yes. But she’s getting better.”

“I can attest to that end Fe, she isn’t nearly as bad, at least, not most of the time.” Joe confirmed. “Plus, she did help Marinette out with her little investigation.”

“Speaking of which, what did you do to Officer Roger?” Marinette demanded.

“Now what makes you think I had anything to do with him?” Felix had a little smirk on his face. “I’ve been here in the manor all day.”

“Felix, you swore you wouldn’t lie or hide anything from me.”

“That I did, but I do swear that whatever happened to that officer of the law, it wasn’t my doing.” His smirk remained. “Perhaps one of my boys could answer that instead?”

“I think it may have been Canter, I’ve noticed him heading out more. Maybe he was just concerned for you.” Joe suggests, folding his hand.

Marinette crossed her arms. “Really? Canter, a man I’ve never met until just now, was concerned for me?”

“You hadn’t met Narcisse yet and he’s been arranging lunch for you when you visited.” Luka chimed in. “Canter is the same, he just stays in one area of the manor mostly.”

“Right. Well, while I appreciate the concern from your friend, he didn’t have to turn Sabrina’s father into some robotic puppet.” She scolded. “I’m flattered everyone here wants the best for me, but I don’t want this curse to be involved! It hurts people!”

“Well technically, the curse isn’t hurting them. It’s their own actions that inflicts it, think of it as karma.” Joe states, looking at the girl as he explained. “We only nudge them to making a choice, only giving suggestions, like, the creation of the guillotine. Or, say for instance, forcing a girl to gouge out her eyes for not seeing the lies that maggot was spewing out about her supposed best friend!” his face contorted

“Sometimes depending on the person, the curse will affect them.” Luka added. “How’s Chloe’s shoulder by the way? I hope it’s better than Charlotte’s old bones.”

“What did you do!?” She demanded.

Felix cleared his throat. “She is Charlotte’s descendant, so the curse affected her. However, she still deals with the pain of her ancestor. Nothing too serious, just think of it as sleeping on the wrong side of your body and receive stiff joints that give off a bruising pain.”

“At least she isn’t slowly losing her eyesight like Sarah’s descendant.” Joe added. “Honestly, they both had the power to stop it and did nothing, they deserved what they got.”

“Charlotte was being threatened!” Marinette yelled. “Charlotte was threatened into not halting the hunts at all! She was an innocent party!”

The room went deathly quiet, all eyes were on Marinette as the girl dug in her bag and took out Charlotte’s old journal. It took a lot of begging and pleading before Chloe would let her have it, but if it would prove someone’s innocence, if it would stop the curse from hitting her family, she would take chances. (Just so long as Marinette brought it back in one piece!)

Felix held his hand out and took the old book into his hands, he rolled his eyes at the start of each entry; he honestly could care less about what that little princess did with her life, still, if what Marinette said was true then he had some amends to make with the Bourgeois family. As he read one of the more recent pages, his eyes flashed a dangerous green as he continued to read.

_‘I don’t know what to do! Daddy is in another town on business and left me in charge, day one and already I’ve been threatened by some diplomat’s daughter, she said if I tried stopping the current witch hunt, she would make sure that I would be burned alive next! And not at the stake either. Oh, I wish daddy was still here, he’d tell that harlot off and chase her pasta loving family out of Paris and back to where she came from! Bridgette, if on the off-hand chance, you don’t get caught and you make it to me in time for safety, and if on the off-hand chance, you do read this, I’m sorry -Charlotte’_

Felix had to take a deep breath from that. The story did check out, the page was written in Charlotte’s hand after all. Now he really wished he could return to the past, not only to keep himself from hurting her but also to join his past self in brutally murdering that rotten corpse! He was close to taking his anger out on someone, maybe he could make another person jump in front of a moving train? No, that won’t work. Falling off the Eiffel Tower? Sounds a lot better, he could work with that. He just had to do so without letting Marinette knowing. He just handed the book to the boys next to him so they could read next while he settled his anger, he wasn’t going to risk blowing up on Marinette.

They saw red.

Luka excused himself and went off to the music hall, a few minutes passed and there was violent note playing echoing through the halls. Every bit of rage, hatred, sadness, was poured into the old piano that shook the halls. Marc just went back to shuffling the cards, his grip tightening each time to the point he was just tearing them in half and tossing them into the fire place. Joe however, his hand twitched into a fist as he read every letter. He had been the one to take most pleasure in Charlotte’s pain, feeling that out of all of those who caused Bridgette to die, she was number three on that list, but to see that she was just as innocent, it made him sick to his stomach, evident with tears filling his sapphire eyes.

Marinette went up and took Felix into her arms. “It’s not too late to make this right.” She said softly. “I can bring Chloe here for you to apologize to.”

“I don’t think it will remove the curse, the book with the way to reverse it was lost in the fire.” Marc sighed. “Ken pitched it in thinking he could stop Felix.”

“Even so, you can still own up to your actions. It won’t be easy, but I’ll be by your side.”

“You truly do resemble her.” Felix muttered. “You two could probably pass as twins.” He smiled weakly as he brushed Marinette’s hair behind her ear. “Do you truly think you can bring your…friend here?”

“It might take some convincing, but I can handle it.” She smiled. “Just be sure to have the tea ready when we do show up.”

*****

“And you can remove your blindfolds, now.” Marinette smiled.

The two girls did as they were told and froze on the spot when they saw where they were. Dark road, no sound from the birds, houses all gated up and had their curtains drawn. Culpa Road. Marinette had brought them to Culpa Road! Sabrina started to shake as she held onto Chloe’s arm, digging her nails into her. Chloe just turned to Marinette who lead the way up the manor trying to get the baker girl to explain why they were here! Marinette didn’t answer and when she did, it was just ‘trust me.’ Past the gates and straight through the door, Marinette led the way to the parlor where lunch was set up for them.

“Felix should be here shortly; I tend to arrive in here before he does.”

“You weren’t kidding when you said you were dating him?” Sabrina asked.

“Why would she kid?” Felix walked into the room. “Thank you, for coming…I’m not entirely used to having guests over, but a friend of Marinette’s is a friend of mine.” He had a stiffed tone.

It was true, he’s not used to guests. But he could do this, it was just a simple owning up to the past and making up to Chloe, Sabrina and their family. Marinette was beside him; he could do this.

“It’s nice to meet the demon behind the stories!” Sabrina smiled. “I mean, I didn’t believe those stories either. One look at the case files could show that the deaths weren’t done by magic and instead done by a human.”

“Sabrina, stop.” Chloe begged. “You’re going to accuse him of murder and he’s going to be pissed and then we’re going to an early grave.”

“Settle down.” Felix held his hand up. “I actually wanted to talk to you two about Sarah and Charlotte.” He started off. “It has come to my knowledge that I…went a bit overboard in my grief and wrongfully attacked your ancestors and for that; I, Felix Culpa, head of the Culpa family, give my sincerest apologies to you. I don’t entirely expect you to forgive me for what I’ve done to them, but you two shouldn’t have to suffer for what has happened in the past. You two shouldn’t have to suffer for what my grief has caused.”

Both girls looked at each other before turning back to Felix, the demon of Culpa Road was apologizing? The demon who was responsible for the deaths and suffering of others was showing regret? Was this what having a stroke felt like, it felt like a stroke? Maybe it was the tea they were drinking.

“That’s the understatement of the millennia.” Chloe scoffed, looking at the other. “But I suppose I can forgive you, given you are dating Dupain – I mean, Marinette. And she would kill me if I didn’t forgive you with her baby doll eyes of hers!”

Felix chuckled. “She got you with her baby doll eyes too, huh? It’s how she managed to escape my curse.”

“You liar, you said it was because of my constant apology!” Marinette cried.

“I am so not surprised. Marinette has this stupid thing about her, one flash of a smile and you’re roped in. She’s like a siren.” Chloe continued. “Sailors would be killing each other for her.”

“Not if I get rid of them first, I’m keeping this siren all to myself.” He smirked. “And I’m not giving her up any time soon.”

Marinette groaned and hid her face in her hands, Felix was at it again. But she couldn’t help but to smile. Somehow, Chloe and Sabrina were slowly opening up to him, it might be because Felix showed that he still had his human side after all these years, but it might also be because he showed them that there was no need to be afraid while in the manor. He did say that he welcomed Marinette’s friends with open arms, and Marinette did claim that Chloe and Sabrina were her friends. Chloe still hated how much of a goody two-shoes Marinette was, but even she can’t deny that this angel of a human could keep a demon tamed. Of course, she was definitely going to give Marinette grief every single step of the way, bringing up embarrassing stories from school to him.

“And so, we were playing volleyball in gym class, right? And Marinette was up to serve, she hit the ball so hard it got stuck in the rafters and we thought the class would end, but then it rolled back to our side and she had to serve again and she did…right into Max’s face! Knocked his glasses off in one whack!” Chloe laughed.

“Chloe! That wasn’t funny!” Marinette whined.

Felix was laughing. “Actually, it was, I never expected that you would have that kind of brute strength. Remind me to never get you in a bad mood.”

“That does it, all three of you lost your bakery discount.” Marinette stuck her tongue out.

“Do you really want to challenge us, Marinette?” Chloe smirked. “You are in the presence of two bluebloods here, we make the final call and I say we keep our discount!”

“My family’s bakery, my rules. No discount for you!”

Felix held her close. “Are you certain there’s nothing we can do to change your mind? Not even…”

“Whoa! Not in front of the guests, save that for when Sabrina and I head out!” Chloe scolded.

“If you two wanted to join, you could always just ask.” Marinette grinned.

“Oh. My. God! Marinette, we need to keep you from Felix now. He’s too much of a bad influence on you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Felix is Friends with The Curious and Sam


	12. Date Night and Conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit rushed, but I don't care. these two things were too short to have their own chapter so here we are.

Alya groaned in frustration, she couldn’t get anywhere close to Marinette at all during school. Ever since she met that blond-haired prick, she’s been nothing but worse to Lila, which didn’t make sense in the slightest. Lila’s been nothing but kind to everyone and Marinette was just being a bully to her. She made up her mind about spying on Marinette and the old Culpa Manor, the only downside was that there was always someone in the gardens so she couldn’t really scope out a good area to watch from a safe distance. Mostly, she’s been hiding behind a neighbor’s car and even then, she was too far away to see anything (no matter how good those binoculars were, they didn’t have the right distance in them.). Looking back, the only blessing she had (and she could thank Lila for this later) is when she is able to get a hold of Marinette, it’s date night with Nino and she manages to get a word in to her. Asking to watch over the twins for her and Chris for Nino. She knew that Marinette would agree, she was their class rep and always willing to help out others, and fortunately for her, date night tonight with Nino was also a spying day. They wouldn’t be long, just long enough to get a good glimpse of whatever is going on and then they can get to their dining reservations on time. It was perfect! Two birds with one stone!

“Alya, I still think this is a bad idea.” Nino muttered. “All of it, we can just cancel and reschedule when we’re not busy?”

“It’s not like Marinette is going to bring the kids over to that musty old house.” Alya pointed out. “She’s most likely taking them to a park.”

_“If that was the case, then why is Marinette walking past the park?”_ Nino wanted to ask.

Okay, there was probably another park further away from the one they just passed, but that still didn’t get rid of this sinking feeling in his gut. He never liked the idea of dropping Chris off on his friend, but Alya just never listened, she kept insisting until he finally agreed (and of course he paid her for this, he had his doubts that Alya was doing the same). The two walked at a distance before stopping by the road sign, Alya just paled when she saw the name; Culpa Road, no way, there was no way she was bringing the trio there! Looking at each other, they quickly ran to catch up and watched as Marinette lead the way up the steps and up to the gate where a masked figure was. For once, Alya got close enough to watch everything, although she was now wishing she could hear their conversations.

Canterella bowed to Marinette and opened the gate for her, welcoming her on the grounds, she giggled and walked up to the manor’s entrance and letting herself and the kids in. Marinette smiled at them and assured them that Felix was a great guy, granted, he was a bit ticked that he had to share date night with babysitting, but he managed to find a way to make the day work in his favor; after all, he managed to score a date to the zoo as well as an ice cream date while helping to look after Manon. Helping Marinette out with three other kids would be no problem at all.

“Thanks again, Felix, I know we had a night planned, but Alya wouldn’t let me get a word in.” Marinette sighed.

Felix shook his head and smiled. “It’s fine, Mari.” He looked to the three kids hiding behind her. “Now then, who are your friends?”

She smiled and knelt down. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “He may look big and scary, but he’s a sweetheart.” She turned back to Felix. “Felix, the twins are Ella and Etta, they’re Alya’s younger twin sisters.” The twins looked up at him and gave a small wave to him. “And next we have Chris, Nino’s younger brother.” Chris waved as well.

Felix waved back and knelt down to their eye level, his soft and gentle smile got them to come out of hiding, that was a plus. “It’s a pleasure to meet you three, it will be some time before dinner is ready. Do you want to see the ballroom? I was going to ask Marinette for a dance, and the room is big enough for three more guests.” Their eyes lit up and they nodded with glee, Felix stood up and lead the four to the room in question.

The rest of the night went without any problems; the five had their dancing and their dinner date and they were able to make it back to Alya’s place before her mother showed up. The two just stayed on the couch and read a book together while Ella and Etta were asleep in their room, Chris was using Marinette as a pillow. The book they were sharing was another gothic literature, A String of Pearls, Marinette had made the off-hand comment of enjoying the musical better to which Felix replied with a teasing line of her being uncultured to enjoy the original story. The quiet peace lasted for so long before Alya and Nino had returned, both looking tired and relieved when they saw the little ones perfectly fine.

Nino walked over and gently shook Chris up, the boy gave a small whine before rubbing his eyes. “Hey Nino.” He yawned.

“Long night?” Nino teased him.

“Yeah, we danced part of the night!”

“Yeah?” he picked him up and held him. “How was that?”

“It was fun! The music was weird though, it was in a funny language.” Chris laughed.

Felix looked up for a bit, “Celtic.” He corrected. “We were dancing to Celtic music.”

Nino looked at Felix, he held his brother closer to him in a protective stance. “You’re Marinette’s boyfriend, right?” the nod was all he needed to confirm it. “Uh sorry about tonight, we didn’t know that she had plans tonight either.”

Felix just gave a dismissive wave. “It helps to _ask_ the babysitter if they have plans or not.” He had a sharp look in his eyes, clearly, he was annoyed with the last-minute additions.

“And it also helps if the babysitter asks the client if it was okay whether or not she could bring her boyfriend over.” Alya looked at Marinette disappointed. “Why didn’t you call?”

“Why didn’t you ask ahead of time?” Marinette stood up. “It was chaos, I couldn’t get the twins to listen so I called for backup.”

Both knew what the truth was, neither could admit to the other that one was spying and the other did in fact take the kids to her boyfriend’s house. They were both pretty stupid in the decision making that night; Marinette promised Felix and herself that something like tonight wouldn’t happen again, Felix accepted and even agreed that it _won’t_. He didn’t need the curse to help him in this case, Marinette already told him everything he needed to know, and after tonight he was going to visit the Grand Paris hotel to have a chat with a certain head chef. The two girls just stared at each other in silent conversation before Marinette and Felix left for the night, Felix insisting he walked Marinette home (you never know what kind of people are out and about at night), yet they both knew that Felix wanted to be with her every chance he got.

“And here we are, my lady.” He held her door open for her. “Home sweet home.”

Marinette giggled. “Thanks, Felix.” She kissed him. “And sorry again for bringing the kids over.”

“It’s quite alright, they enjoyed their time dancing and that took enough energy out of them.” Felix reminded. “Especially when the dance in question is a traditional one, you’d be surprised how often I wore Bridgette out with it.”

Marinette crossed her arms and gave a playful look. “What? You couldn’t keep up with her?”

“She was worse than the twins.” He chuckled. “If there was any hope of getting her to settle and enjoy a quiet afternoon, I had to dance with her! It was so tedious.”

“Oh sure.” She smirked. “I’m certain it’s that and not because you enjoyed dancing with her.”

“Keep that up and I’ll curse you next.”

Marinette had a grin on her face. “I’d like to see you try!”

“Very well.” He picked her up without warning and just threw her on her shoulders. “Your curse is this,” he turned to the stairs and called out. “Oh Tom! Sabine! Marinette is home and she agreed to marry me!”

Marinette was blushing. “What the-! You never proposed!”

He quickly set her down. “Enjoy the wedding planning!” he quickly rushed out.

“Felix! Felix Culpa you get your ass back here this instant!” Marinette yelled. “Felix I’m going to kill you!”

*****

**Chime**

The sun was rising, the birds were still quiet – save for Edgar relaying the news to the house, and coffee was the usual drink of the day, with fresh baked croissants from the Dupain-Cheng bakery (delivered by Tom, who did tease Felix about a possible engagement). Breakfast between the household was tense in nature, they had learned that Miss Alya and her boyfriend followed Marinette here last night and spied on them for a spell. Not that it mattered, Joe had assured everyone that while Alya may be hotheaded, she wouldn’t be stupid enough to admit she was following and spying on her classmates. She would deny it unless faced with evidence, fortunately for her, the only witness was Edgar and no-one was going to take a raven’s word as evidence. She was safe, for now, they just had to play the waiting game. The fun part of that game was the fact they got to enjoy their life while the person slowly went mad and end up blurting out the truth.

“Speaking of Alya, what are we going to do with her?” Joe asked.

“We’re going to do what we’ve had been doing for ages, we’re going to sit back and let her be stupid.” Felix shrugged. “You said she had her pride, all we have to do is actively catch her on our grounds, give her a nightmare or two.”

“And then let the curse take over.” Luka finished. “Sounds fun, but I was thinking maybe we can try to get her away from the maggot queen. It’s clear she’s only like this because she made friends with the wrong person.”

“And if she is Alessa’s descendant then by that logic we should try to help her. It’s what Bridgette would have wanted.” Marc nodded.

Felix sighed. “What Bridgette and Marinette would have wanted.” He corrected.

“Right about Marinette, you’ve noticed it too, right?” Joe asked. “How similar she is to her?”

Felix nodded. “They’re not the same though, I know Bridgette would have wanted me to find love again, to be happy as I was those years ago. I love Marinette for who she is though and I want to be with her.”

“That’s sweet, but that’s not what I was getting at.” Joe leaned back. “Let’s see, you’ve played Kingdom Hearts, right? Probably not, but hear me out; In Kingdom Hearts II, you start as Roxas who you learn is Sora’s Nobody – I promise I’ll explain the whole lore later – Roxas doesn’t look anything like Sora, but in fact he looks like Ventus from Birth by Sleep. Ventus and Sora shared a heart, that’s why Roxas and Ventus look similar.”

Felix just stared. “Let me see if I’m understanding you, you’re telling me that Bridgette and Marinette share the same heart and that’s why they’re similar in so many ways?”

“Similar but different yes.” Marc confirmed. “They share a heart but they don’t share some things; Marinette is into fashion, Bridgette was not. Bridgette loved gothic horror literature; Marinette could care less about it. They both love dancing and baking and they both love you. Same heart, different people.”

“If that’s the case, then there may be hope for Paris after all.” Luka spoke up. “Right now.” He stood up and stretched. “I think I’m calling in sick, I don’t feel like going to my home room class.”

“Neither do I.” Marc agreed. “Strange that we got the flu today.”

Felix crossed his arms. “Oh no you don’t, you’re going, you agreed to watch over Marinette during the mornings.”

“Joe’s in her class!” Marc pouted. “Make him go!”

“I’d love to, but then I’m going to be walking into a room filled with toxic fumes and that would be bad for my health.” Joe grinned.

“Either all three of you go willingly or I drag you there myself!”

“Fine, fine.” Marc crossed his arms. “Marinette would have let us stayed home.”

“Marinette is being responsible and going to school, get going.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There MAY be hope for Paris  
...  
...  
...  
Don't get your hopes up too high, Paris


	13. Alya vs. Felix

It was actually her lucky break, today was the first chance she managed to get onto the grounds without garnering attention from the weirdo in the mask. Alya was proud of herself, all her patiently waiting paid off perfectly for this exact day. It played out like every day; Marinette would show up at school on cloud nine, get into some fight with Lila (seriously, that girl needed to stop antagonizing Lila), leave for Culpa Road during lunch hour, and she would follow her to the strange mansion. Chris had said that all they did was dance to Celtic music during date night, but she still had her doubts when it came to the place. Culpa Manor was haunted for a reason and Marinette brought her sisters there! She was getting to the bottom of this, and she was going to figure out what the hell was with this Felix person that’s been isolating her best friend from everyone.

Pressed against the tree, she watched as Marinette walked up to the gate and greeted the masked freak, the man bowed and led Marinette up to the door. Once inside, Alya took out her binoculars and watched the windows; the display before her was shocking; she watched as Felix came down the stairs and storming up to Marinette before grabbing her shoulders, she was right all along! Felix was an abusive bastard, the signs were there; she was being isolated from everyone, he was buying her gifts to keep her by him, and he was hurting her. She didn’t care if she would get charged for trespassing, she had the proof she needed to get the cops involved. Alya was about to trade her binoculars for her phone when a raven’s caw caused her to jump in surprise. She calmed down when she saw the bird take flight, damn bird, this place was getting to her. Not hesitating for a second, she started to call Officer Roger for abuse claims.

“Yeah, I’d like to report a domestic dispute?” Alya said quietly. “My friend is in a dangerous situation; I think the guy she’s with is hurting her. I’m outside watching him violently shaking her as we speak.”

“Calm down miss.” Roger said. “Are you certain the action in question is a violent one?”

“Yes, I’m certain, he just stormed up to her and grabbed her. I don’t know what’s being said, but it looked like he was yelling at her.”

“And how is your friend reacting?”

“I don’t-” she grabbed her binoculars again and looked at the window. “Okay, the guy is leading her to another room, I can’t see what’s going on.” also…where was the masked freak? Wasn’t he with Felix and Marinette earlier?

A tap on the shoulder was enough to confirm everything. The freak was right behind her! Alya turned and tried to get away from hiding, but to no avail. The masked figure picked her up, humming a tune as he carried her into the manor (screaming and kicking and all). The residence of the cursed road stayed inside and watched as she was taken inside, they had a feeling they knew of her fate, she was going to meet the lord of the manor whether she wanted to or not. The masked man placed her on a chaise lounge in the parlor and went over to a rope, pulling it to let a bell chime to inform Felix of the intruder.

Sometime during her last visit at the manor, Marinette had brought Felix a book series for him to read. He was all about the body horror genre, and even though this was a kid book series, she felt that he would get enjoyment out of it and if he didn’t…well that was just the juicy revenge for having to sit through his readings of various dark literature. She still hadn’t forgiven him for the ones that had acts she couldn’t dare bring herself to describe. So, hopefully learning about a kid being a hawk for the rest of his short natural life (poor Tobias was probably going to live until he was fifteen) will get him to break. And boy, did Felix react all right.

Her day was mostly her on cloud nine, she was excited to see him again; after all he messaged her saying he finished the book she brought him and was eager to talk about it with her. And who was she to decline such a humble request? Of course, Lila had to make some rude remark, not like she cared, Marinette just told her off as usual. When lunch rolled around, she made her way up the steps and greeted Canter as part of her daily routine (That is if she can catch him outside, most of the time he’s in the far back gardens) and once entering the manor, it happened. Felix storming up to her and holding her shoulders, demanding to know what the hell kind of book she gave him. It was just pure and sweet revenge.

“What? I thought you liked aliens?” Marinette asked innocently.

“Yes, I enjoy Aliens – the movie series, but what I just read; parasites that brain fuck people? Those are not aliens, they’re the devil incarnate - I should know, Satan has kicked me out of hell ages ago! Those! I don’t even want to encounter those!” Felix shook her like a ragdoll and Marinette just laughed.

“Consider it payback for those dark fantasies of yours!” Marinette was crying with laughter.

After that, it seemed like everything was going to go the same way; enjoy Narcisse’s cooking, binge on some sweets that she brought and then they would spend time doing whatever activity Felix had planned out – today he was going to take her out to the stables to go riding. However, something changed, the moment they got to the dining hall a bell was rung and Felix’s demeanor changed; his warm smile turned into an icy glare, his green eyes were glowing a dangerous acidic green.

“It seems we have company.” Felix muttered.

“Felix, don’t do anything rash.” Marinette warned.

“Depending on the individual and how they respond to a simple questioning will determine their fate.”

“Then let me come with you, someone has to keep your murderous rampage at bay.”

Felix was reluctant at first, but months of being around his beautiful angel told him that this girl was stubborn and wouldn’t take no for an answer. He just nodded and led the way to the parlor where their guest was. Alya Cesaire. Felix felt his shoulders drop, he knew that at the moment this prideful idiot was only acting out because of the sin of pride and also most likely due to the maggot that poisoned her brain. Bridgette would have tried to save Alyssa and Marinette would want Alya to not be taken advantage of, still the rules of the manor remained and rules were meant to be followed.

“You must be Alya.” Felix sat across from her. “Marinette told me about you, you’re an aspiring journalist, am I correct?”

“Look bastard, you can sweet talk to me all you want, but I know you. I know people like you who isolate and hurt their victims behind closed doors!” Alya snarled.

Felix chuckled. “Is that what I’m doing? Right then, you’re the type who wants to get to the main point so let’s just jump into it shall we? Simply tell me what made you think that stalking and trespassing was a good idea?”

“She brought my sisters here last week; your manor is a death trap!”

“So, you admit to following her that night as well.” Felix mused. “Don’t friends usually trust one another?”

“Well…she didn’t tell me where she was taking my sisters, you know, my family?!” Alya tried to retort.

“The very same family you pawned off on your friend so you may go on a date with your boyfriend.” Felix leaned back. “And the very same friend who you forced to babysit for you without so much as asking?” he leaned forward, “Miss Cesaire, from where I’m sitting and from what I’ve heard and learned about you in these few minutes, I can tell that the regard of others doesn’t seem to phase you, you clearly have blind faith in others be it through honeyed words that a silver tongued maggot tells you or through a one-sided friendship. It’s clear to me, that the only person who you truly care about would be yourself. You who would rather be out late at night with a boy, you who would listen to the words of a liar and toss your friend to the side, and you who would always take full advantage of someone’s kindness just so it benefit you in some way.”

“That’s not true and you know it!” Alya screamed.

“No? Very well then, why not put that little journalist brain of yours to the test.” His grin started to grow. “I’m going to give you a challenge; in one week, I want you to find out the truth of this manor and its curse. The current rule is this; no stalking, and no using questionable means to get your answer. The rules will change when the time comes, do this and I’ll reward you.”

“Reward me?”

“We’ll discuss the details later; do you accept this challenge?” he held his hand out to her.

*****  
  
School the next day was a bit of a turn; Marinette was with Joe as they walked down the hall to the classroom. In her hands was a plain manila folder filled with various papers, she walked around and placed a piece from the folder on each desk before moving to the front of the room, smiling as her classmates walked in and stare in confusion at the invoices on their desks.

“Girl, what’s with these prices on our desks?” Alya asked, her invoice had a whopping 214,034.32 Euro on it.

One by one everyone followed suit and voiced their confusion. Marinette’s smile just grew as she replied. “Those are how much you owe me; from commission work to the treats I brought in for class and supplied on picnics, especially when you forced me to. I just figured it would be a good time to collect them now.”

Nino raised his hand. “About the last babysitting thing, it’s going to be a while before I can pay you for it…uh should I pay your boyfriend too or?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Nino, you can pay whenever.” Marinette assured.

“What the- Marinette we’re friends!” Alya tried to counter.

“Then you would know that this stuff comes out of my allowance and the stock from the bakery. How would you like it if I forced you to bring in food from the Grand Paris just because your mom works there, Alya?” Marinette narrowed her eyes. “And also, last I checked, _friends_ don’t stalk and spy on their friends.”

“I was only thinking about you!” Alya snapped. “Marinette, this Felix guy is bad news, he was hurting you!”

“And how would you know? All you did was spy on me from a distance, you didn’t get the full story”

“He was yelling at you!”

“Because I gave him a book that broke him! I gave him the Animorphs series and he was yelling about how the aliens in there were the devil incarnate!”

“Still, I don’t like him Mari, maybe you should break up with him.” Alya begged, as she tried to reason with her friend.

Marinette shook her head. “How can you say that? Oh wait, Lila probably put you up to this, didn’t she?” her voice was almost as icy as Felix’s

Lila gave the most pitiful expression she could muster up. “I-I’m sorry! I was just- It’s just that the stories of Culpa Road being cursed and evil, I was trying to look after you! I didn’t want some demon to hurt you and drag you to hell! I was trying to help!”

“Stay out of this Lila, it’s clear Marinette is just trying to cover for Felix, I know her boyfriend is an abusive prick!”

“Yeah, sure. Some journalist you turned out to be.” Marinette just went to her seat in the back. “I’ll be expecting those payments when we get back from our field trip next week.”


	14. Roadside Engagement Problems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this was a bit rushed but frankly we just want to hurry and get to the fun parts. I promise to you, that the next chapter will definitely be longer and that everything will be smoother.

Marinette shouldn’t be surprised anymore; Lila had managed to switch the school trip from the beautiful gardens of a historical site to some indoor waterpark and resort. She closed her eyes and just relaxed in the back of the bus as they drove through Paris, part of the reason she wanted the former was because Felix liked to visit there a lot and it would be a bonus to see him outside their usual time at lunch or after school. But the waterpark would be fun too, she did have a bikini and it would be fun to see Felix’s reaction to her in a two piece; skin exposed and everything. All for Felix to freak out even more, she can see his face now; eyes wide, jaw dropped, possible bloody nose, and of course his famous scolding ‘I don’t care how common it is for women to wear that, you are a lady, you should be in a one piece!’ she couldn’t help but to laugh to herself. Oh, she was going to have fun with the pictures for sure.

Not wanting to draw attention to herself, Marinette just ended up clearing her throat and straightening herself up. She watched as the scenery shifted from the city to a familiar dark road, the bus driver claimed they were taking a detour due to unexpected road construction. Unexpected? Right, something told her that the road construction was planned in advance; she even shot a look to Luka, Marc, and Joe in silent accusation, the curse had a hand to play in this no doubt and the only people who seemed to be in control of the curse were her four boys. Joe turned to look at her, giving the ‘I dunno shrug’. Marinette wasn’t buying it; the curse was definitely at play, the look that Luka and Marc had was a bit too innocent looking for her taste.

“What are you guys up to?” she whispered.

Luka shrugged. “Hey for once, the three of us aren’t responsible…yet at least.”

“So help me if you hurt anyone.” She warned.

“Don’t worry, we would never do anything to jeopardize the safety of the others on the bus.” Marc assured. “Now if the bus were to suddenly break down because of engine failure then…by definition the class is fair game as they are on our road.”

Just as he said that, the unmistakable sound of all four tires popping as well as a smoking engine was enough to have the driver pulled up right to the manor. The rest of the class was in confusion, trying to figure out what caused it; some of the students tried looking outside to see if they ran over anything – nothing. What caused the tires to go out and what caused the engine to bust? Marinette turned to the three boys who had their own grins plastered on their faces; she knew she probably wouldn’t get anywhere with them so her best bet was to go to the source, her boyfriend. Raising her hand, she offered to go see if anyone on the road could help them with their bus problems, naturally Caline insisted and praised her for ‘being a responsible figure to the class’ and allowed her to go up to the manor.

“I see your class is having some car troubles.” Felix mused.

“Felix, what did you do?” Marinetted demanded.

“I’m not going to play innocent, the curse is my creation, however, it does seem to have some…drawbacks. Such as if the descendants of those I targeted gathered here…”

“Straight answer Felix, now.”

“Fine, basically unless they shape up and get back in your good graces, they’re royally fucked.” Felix said bluntly. “Is that better for you?”

“Get back in my good graces?” She repeated.

“The curse was performed due to the fact that Bridgette’s old friends wronged her; the people she trusted turned on her in favor a liar who proceeded to call her a witch and had her executed. Your classmates are either descendants or reincarnations of those from the past and needless to say history is repeating itself. Their only saving grace is to receive your forgiveness, they get the one strike rule and that’s it.”

Marinette crossed her arms and stared her boyfriend down. “Basically, what you’re saying is, unless I forgive them like I did with Chloe, they’re going to suffer?”

“That’s putting it nicely, but yes.” Felix nodded. “For the time being, I will be a gracious host and invite them to stay until your bus is fixed.”

*****

The feeling of dread was removed the instant everyone had their bags moved to the guest rooms. The mood was lighter since the rooms were definitely better than any hotel room they would be staying in; the bed was soft and bouncy, the furniture was super fine, and they had a great view of the backyard garden! Everything was going along great, and Alya hated to admit it, but she was rather glad that Marinette tamed the demon of this cursed road, since he was civil that meant he had to play gracious host and not show any ill temper to them, no curse from him and no creepy killings that he was famous for! She was going to use this to her advantage, she was definitely going to order pizza for her friends sometime during their stay and the best part? Felix would have to pay for them! Speaking of Felix, he had mentioned that there was going to be a special announcement at dinner tonight and that formal wear was entirely optional. Then again, she was in his manor now and he probably had the new rules to the twisted game set up; she tried searching the web about Felix and his manor but everything that came up was just stupid internet campfire stories. She was going to win this challenge and she was going to prove that she was a wonderful journalist! Once she wins this, she was going to get Marinette out of here, she didn’t deserve to be with someone as horrible as Felix.

The bell chimed signaling dinner was ready. Shrugging, Alya left her room and went downstairs to the dining hall where she was greeted by a set of maids; wearing a long black dress with white aprons, in a weird and twisted way they almost resembled her classmates Juleka and Rose, with their hair pulled back into buns. She smiled and waved at the maids before going to sit with her friends. The display of the table sort of ticked her off; at the head of the table Marinette was seated next to the Master of the manor, a little favoritism much? She should be with the class and not her abusive boyfriend! (He probably has her by him to keep her under his control, the sick fuck). Aside from that, the creep in the mask came in with a red-haired male; unlike the masked weirdo, the red-head was dressed in a white shirt and black vest, a pocket watch was in his vest pocket, and white gloves. They both helped the maids as they served dinner to the class; it was just a cheeseburger and chips along with a can of soda. It was a bit off-putting; Felix was a rich shouldn’t he be having five-star class? Steak and caviar? He had the money to spare so why was he being cheap around them? Her anger grew when she saw a maid bring two plates; roast chicken. Roast chicken for not only himself but for Marinette.

“What the hell is that?” Alya demanded. “Why do you guys get chicken and we don’t?”

Felix just stared at her. “It’s chicken and we get it because one; I live here, I get to choose what I want for dinner. Two; Marinette is my girlfriend and what kind of boyfriend would I be if I gave her something as common as a cheeseburger. And finally; I was going to do this later after your little field trip but…I suppose I can do this now, especially during dessert.”

That got her nowhere. Alya just turned back to her food and ate in silence. The burger was good, she’ll give the cook that much, but she was still pissed off that Felix was playing favorites with Marinette, of course something off about the masked weirdo she met a few days ago, he looked…slimmer here. Slimmer and almost the same height as Marinette, two freaks in a mask? The confusion she held didn’t go unnoticed, Felix was looking at her with a twisted grin on his face; he was going to have fun in their little game, the same game that she’s going to beat him at. Dessert was better than dinner, it was a custard tart – a sweet vanilla filling and a lovely key lime dome on top of it. It was just heaven on the mouth! There was once more a difference to the setting; Marinette’s tart had something extra on top of it. That something extra…was a ring. A ring?!

“Felix…” Marinette covered her mouth. “Felix is that…”

Felix took it off and held her hands in his. “It is…It’s been a few months now and…Marinette, you’ve made me happy in those few months and I want to spend the rest of eternity with you. Together until the end of time, will you make me the happiest demon-”

He didn’t get a chance to finish the sentence. Marinette just took the ring and put it on before moving into his arms and sitting on his lap before kissing him deeply.

“Of course, I will!” she cried.

There were a few scattered applauses; Rose, Juleka, Nathaniel, Marc, Luka, and Joe were cheering on their friend for getting to the proposal stage of her life. Alya was just staring at them as they began talking over each other about who the flower girl was going to be, who was in charge of the music, and who would take Marinette dress shopping. Just one after the other, it felt like it was never ending before Caline spoke up. Thank god for her, at least they had a responsible adult with them otherwise this would have gone downhill pretty fast.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt such a happy occasion.” Caline started off. “However, don’t you think this is a bit _inappropriate_ to propose so early in your relationship?”

Felix held Marinette close and looked at Caline, his cold expression returning on his face. “Now why would it be inappropriate? We’re both consenting parties and we are both at the age of consent.”

“Well, she’s still in high school.” She brought up. “Shouldn’t you two wait a while before getting married? I mean, you don’t want to ruin any chances for Marinette to meet someone else, do you?”

The eerie calm was enough for some of the students to move from the table, Felix took a breath of air before replying to her. “Promise engagements are a thing, just because I proposed doesn’t always mean that were going to get married the next day. We were going to wait until graduation before any and all official wedding planning begins.” His voice was dripping with venom. “Now then, I don’t know what planet you’re from, but here on earth; if someone finds a person they love and accepts their marriage proposal, it usually means they found the one they want to spend the rest of their life with. What you just implied, however, you just implied that she should cheat behind my back despite being in a happy relationship with me. I’m starting to wonder where your ancestors fucked up to think that cheating on your significant other is smiled upon.” He gently moved Marinette so they both could stand up. “And with having said that, I wish you all a good rest of your evening, and hope you grow a few new braincells for breakfast tomorrow.”


	15. Strict Guidelines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, but hopefully the next chapter is longer

To say that sleep came easy for everyone that night was the understatement of the century; Alya was lying awake in her bed, the taunting neon letters reminding her that there was still three hours before breakfast; six a.m. that’s what Felix said and anyone who showed up five minutes late would have to go without. Just how uptight was this bastard? She would have to worry about him later, she was more focus on the nightmare she had that night, she could still hear the screams as well as the pain in her eyes. Alya ended up unconsciously rubbed at them to soothe the pain that she was feeling. Her dream started off normal enough; she found herself in a village where she would be with her friends, they would hang out like normal and everything was right in the world, then came a witch burning where she couldn’t help but cover her mouth to hold back a scream; it was horrible to watch, seeing this girl be dragged to the stake and tied down before the flames were lit. The poor girl was screaming in such agony, she tried to drown the sound out by covering her ears, it was hopeless. Seeing and hearing this woman cry was too much, she ended up running from the town square and found herself in an empty shop, but she wasn’t alone, looking up she saw Felix with two boys by his side. The boys moved and blocked any and all exit, and Felix silently held a blade to her, a sadistic grin shown on his face.

“Do you want this torment to end?” he asked sweetly.

Alya wanted to tell him off, but her body betrayed her. She grabbed the knife and looked at him pleading, “Please, tell me what I have to do.”

“Just remove the three body parts that are causing you agony; you want to stop hearing her screams, don’t you? To stop yourself from crying out? And to stop yourself from watching her in pain?”

Alya looked at the blade and found herself moving the knife to her tongue. She held her tongue between her fingers and began to cut it out, blood was pouring out as she did and her cries were muffled, once the bloodied pink appendage hit the floor with a sickening squish, she moved the knife to her ear. Her gurgled cries woke Alya up with a start as she screamed. And that was where she was, laying in bed and staring at the clock that now read four a.m. and constantly in a spiral of if she should try to go back to sleep or not, after another five minutes she finally got up and grabbed a change of clothes from her bag; she decided to just start her day by exploring the ground floor of the manor. Maybe even get a better look at the parlor or even snag a small snack from the kitchen.

Once she made it to the kitchen, she was greeted by the friendly, ever stoic masked face of one Cantarella. Seeing the girl, he waved at her causing the bells on his mask to jingle. Alya just gave a hesitant wave and tried to move around him but he just moved in front of the door. He pointed to the door with his thumb and made an “X” with his arms, clearly the girl wasn’t going to be allowed to have an early morning snack, evident by the smell of food coming from the kitchen. Alya sighed and let her shoulders drop, Canter just walked up and hooked his arms, motioning for her to link arms with him, she just quietly declined.

“I see you’re up early, Miss Alya.” Felix called from the dining room table.

Alya looked over and made her way up to him. Felix just smiled and invited her to sit by him, to which she did as well as to make sure to keep a few chairs distance from him and even declining a cup of coffee from Canter in the process.

“I’d like to thank you for the wake-up call, your screams woke the staff up on time.” Felix smirked.

“Shut up, your manor gave me a heart attack.” She hissed.

“If you don’t like it, you can camp out in the bus.” Felix offered. “But, now that you’re awake we can discuss the new rules to your game, how has your investigation been going? Good I hope?”

“Just give me the new rules already.” Alya spat.

“Ooh feisty, I like that.” Felix smirked. “Glad you hit a dead end; the new rule should make it easier for you then.” He took a drink. “Now then, the new rule is this; the entire manor is yours to search through to your heart’s content, no room is off limits to you.”

“But there’s a catch, isn’t there.” Alya demanded. “What is it?”

“The catch is; solve the mystery of the manor before all of your classmates drop like flies.” Felix smirked.

Alya felt her blood run cold, ‘before her classmates drop like flies’? What the hell kind of game was this sick bastard playing? “What the hell! You can’t seriously kill my friends! Marinette’s friends!”

Felix looked at her bored, “I see we forgot about the little invoice situation, which reminds me; did you pay off any amount to that?”

“W-what, no! I thought she was just mad; she wouldn’t do that to us! And besides, I’m not going to play your game if it means people are going to die!”

“Well that’s a crying shame, because your friends will be receiving a special set of rules to follow and if anyone breaks them…well, that’s what they have you here for, to talk them into behaving.” Felix grinned. “I’m sure you’ll be better at watching over them than you are with watching over your siblings.”

The bell chimed six, and like uniform most of the students dragged themselves down to the dining hall and took their seats. Alya wanted to scream something to warn them, but with Felix next to her…she was afraid of saying anything. She didn’t know if what she says would come back and bite her later, she was forced to sit in silence as everyone muttered a good morning, everyone was so tired – why was breakfast even at six in the morning anyway? Alya did a quick headcount, someone was missing from the group, she did a recount and felt her blood turn to ice; Lila was missing! To her amazement the only ones who seemed remotely awake were Marinette, Marc, Luka, and Joe, it was weird given that Marinette was usually the late one, but here she was; dressed in a pastel pink sundress, and sandals, her hair was in a loose ponytail tied with a white ribbon and complete with light blush and pink lipstick.

“You’re looking nice today.” Felix smiled.

“Well, today is the last day of sunshine before we get rained out.” Marinette reminded. “And you said that Narcisse was giving us a tour of the gardens after breakfast.”

“Someone remembers today’s plans.” He teased.

“You’re just easy to read.” She kissed him as Rosaline and Juliana came out serving breakfast to everyone.

“Enjoy.” Rosaline smiled.

Caline raised her hand and spoke up. “Excuse me, but shouldn’t we wait for Lila?”

Rosaline shook her head. “I’m afraid the Master said that breakfast was at six a.m. sharp and that anyone who is late won’t get anything.”

Felix leaned back in chair as Lila entered the room, he was expecting this sort of behavior from the class and yet he was still in quiet shock that they could easily throw away rules and disrespect the master of the manor. He had a feeling that this behavior was encouraged by the teacher and the parents were just blissfully ignorant, it was a sad sight to behold. Well, this would be the last time the curse took hold he may as well enjoy their stupidity, it made the game more fun to him.

“Well now, since everyone is here, there are a few things we need to go through.” He snapped his fingers and had Juliana walk around the table handing everyone a sheet of paper. “Last night, I was kind enough to let you get with whatever you did or say, however, from here on out there are going to be rules. Rules I expect everyone to follow to a T while you stay as guests at this manor.” He watched as everyone mutter to one another about the paper they got, the rules there were strict, and that was being nice. Felix smirked as the ones who showed disgust at it was the little maggot herself, followed by Kim, Max, and the beloved teacher Caline. A few confused looks from some of the others, and a few nods in understanding from Marinette and her newfound friends.

“First; this manor runs on a one strike rule, if anyone breaks the rules before you, you will be given a warning, if you break the rules a second time, you will find out the hard way that we dole out some harsh punishments. If anyone has a problem with that, you may collect your bags and camp in your bus for all I care. My mansion, my rules.” Felix was met with cries of outrage, what the hell kind of system was that?

“Second; mind your tongue. If anyone of us catches you slandering, defaming, or lying in anyway shape or form about anyone in the manor or about anyone from my family, you will be personally dealt with.” He stared at them hard. “Finally, and this is the most important rule; if you try to attack me, Marinette, her friends, or any of the servants either mentally, physically, emotionally, or all three at once…well let’s just say the punishment will be harsher than traditional methods.”

“And there’s no way you can waive certain rules, like the six-a.m. bullshit?” Kim demanded

“I’m sorry that my lifestyle inconvenience you, again, if you have a problem with how the manor works you have the liberty to camp in your bus.” Felix replied coldly.

Lila stood up. “But we’re _your_ guests! You should accommodate us!”

“Keep treating my manor like your own personal hotel, see how far you get with that attitude, Miss Rossi.” Felix leaned forward. “My manor is not your hotel, you’re only here until your bus is fixed, I could have turned you away at any given moment but I didn’t, and do you know why I welcomed you stranded teenagers into my home? It’s because my fiancé was kind enough to put your comfort first. True she’s pissed at you for everything you’ve put her through but she was still willing to show some kindness.” He hissed. “Now, let me reiterate one final time; if my lifestyle inconvenience you, or if you don’t feel like following any of the rules, you may collect your bags and camp in your bus, this is the final time I’m offering this to you because after today, we’re in for severe thunderstorms and I’d rather not have drowned rats running around the halls.”

Silence. Good, they understood their place, this would make everything so much easier from here on out. Breakfast went quietly after that; a few students gave some of their food to Lila and whining about how it wasn’t her fault she slept in and that Felix was in the wrong. Well, hopefully the tour of the grounds will go by just as smooth.

*****

The garden out back was quite large, larger than the small section Marinette was used to seeing when she would visit. Some flowers were behind iron gates and structures with signs saying not to touch the plants there as well as the names of the plants painted beautifully on dark wood signs as well as what the effects of the plants were. In the garden there were a few benches that were flitted around the less poisonous plants, each with an engraving of marble of some of the family members and loved ones’ names on it. Though, most seemed to show their age except for one; the bench was gated off and the marble veined with gold and red as well, the only thing to show its age was the faded red ribbons tied to one of the arms on the bench, upon closer inspection; the name on the ribbons read “Bridgette”

Of course, the maggot had to complain why the bench wasn’t for sitting, clearly the concept of memorials went over her head. Narcisse was losing his patience with her every second, how did Marinette manage to survive class with her was the greatest mystery of them all.

“So why can’t we sit there, but Marinette can?” Lila finally demanded, Alya quickly jumped and covered her mouth. The two girls struggled, finally something amusing happened on this tour of gaggle of idiots!

“The master gave her permission.” Narcisse said like it was obvious. “If she ever wants to go there, she just has to ask Canter to unlock the gate for her.”

“I’d like to formally say that never had I once gone past the gate except to leave a pink camelia in place.” Marinette spoke up. “A flower out of respect.”

“You do know that leaving that flower in place means you’re longing for her, right Mistress?” Narcisse asked, snickering at Marinette’s flustered expression. “But moving on to the more serious aspect of things; Miss Rossi’s outburst counts as a strike against her.” He watched the dread building up in the students. “Now then, shall we proceed with the tour?”


	16. First Victim

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey did ya miss me! Yeah so getting to the first death was a chore, we had an idea but it was about "What Are Words" but hey, got it and that's what matters

It was a miserable afternoon; the tour went as expected with Marinette’s class interrupting the guide or shooting themselves in the foot with some stupid comment or another. Felix sighed; he was starting to wonder if the one strike rule was worth it as so far, the following comments from the class made him want to tear someone’s head off – don’t even get him started on what Kim had said about his dead fiancé. Still, despite the overall headache that was the tour of his estate, everyone seemed to have an idea of how the manor worked. This was perfect, after all, now that his favorite reporter had time to explore the manor grounds on her own (he even gave her a little gift to make investigating the rooms easier for her). Even now as he watched her through the shadows, he couldn’t help but grin as she went through the master bedroom, the taxidermy room, and even the parlor and storming off as she found nothing to aid her in her little investigations. Oh, how he wished he could give her a hint on where to go, but in his book that would be considered cheating, of course, nothing in his rules say he couldn’t give her wuss of a boyfriend a little push to the right room. Nino looked like he could be quite useful for the family, and who was he to deny the manor a valuable ally.

“Canter, see to it that those two are separated.” Felix ordered. “I have a feeling that this afternoon won’t be such a letdown after all.” Canter bowed at the order and Felix’s grin grew. “Also, could you make sure that Ken’s grave is ready?” No harm in killing two birds with one stone.

That was the first of many problems that were to come to Culpa Manor; the sound of boots hitting the hardwood flooring of the manor as the masked figure known as Cantarella strolled through the halls as he went behind Nino - who was talking to his girlfriend, and tapped his shoulder. Nino turned and watched his exuberant movements, he’s been friends with Mylene for a while and knew that her father was a professional mime, it wasn’t difficult to translate what the weird masked man was asking of him.

“Hey Alys, I’ll catch up with you and the investigation, I guess Mr. Culpa wants to talk to me about something.”

Canter hooked his arms with Nino’s before giving Alya the loser sign as he escorted the young man down the halls. The two walked for a while before they appeared at Felix’s study; it was just as dark as the rest of the manor with only candles and a fireplace giving light. Felix looked up and flashed a bright smile, and welcomed Nino in, offering some coffee while they discussed business – Nino kindly declined, he wasn’t much of a coffee drinker.

“So, you wanted to talk to me?” Nino asked.

Felix nodded. “I did.” He laced his fingers together. “But first I must ask, how do you feel about your classmates?”

“Odd question but…I guess my classmates are okay? We’re friends, I guess? Why do you ask?”

“Half of the things I’ve heard about you and the others are from Marinette.” Felix played with a pen in thought. “Granted, they’re not entirely good things, from my understanding there’s been some strife going on between everyone and I want a clearer picture as to what is happening at Francoise-Dupont?”

“Well, there has been some strife, yes.” Nino confirmed. “But it’s mostly by one individual, Lila Rossi, ever since she’s returned, she managed to manipulate most of the class. Before, we used to be pretty close, everyone was friends with one another, but now…now it’s pretty divided.”

He hated to admit it, but it sounded like Joe was right, history was indeed repeating itself. Felix frowned as he gripped his pen a little tighter before speaking again. “What exactly has she done so far?”

“Aside from framing Marinette as a bully?” There was another strike on her list, but he can’t act yet. “She’s convinced others to do her homework for her, and treat her like she’s some kind of princess, she managed to turn most of the class against Marinette, hell, even my girlfriend’s view on things had been warped because of her. I hate it, I just…I just wish she’d fuck off and leave our school.”

The grip loosened and Felix felt a grin on his face. “What if I told you there was a way to put her and others in their place?” he offered.

“What do you mean?” Nino asked.

“I mean that to some extent the rumors of my manor are true, it’s true I do have…unorthodox ways to scare off trespassers and bring about divine punishments. Well, perhaps not divine in the sense of righteousness., I am known as the Demon of Culpa Road for a reason after all.”

“You want my help to kill people?” Nino had an accusatory tone in his voice. “Look, I may not agree with my classmates but I’m not going to get my hands bloodied!”

“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.” Felix shook his head. “You’re so quick to jump to conclusions.”

“So, you aren’t going to kill them?” Nino asked hesitantly.

“Why of course not, I won’t be killing anyone. But I won’t lie and say that this estate is rather old and accidents are prone to happen.” Felix swirled the glass of wine in his hand nonchalant as he looked towards the other with a gaze that could freeze even the hottest of heads.

Cantarella filled the glass with more wine before looking to Nino in a silent offer, the young DJ just shook his head.

“So, just making sure I’m understanding your request clearly; you want me to spy on my classmates and report to you about them?” a nod confirmed it. “And that’s it, nothing serious or drastic?” 

“I might need your assistance in luring the individual away from the others, but other than that, you’re just acting as an informant.”

“And what do I get out of the deal?”

Felix’s eyes had a shine to them. “Why, whatever you wish, I may be a demon, but even I repay others. You help me with this for the duration of your trip and I’ll reward you in anything you could ever wish for.”

“That sounds too good to be true.” 

“Perhaps, but remember, I’ve been around for quite some time and had accumulated quite the reputation among town. I can help kickstart your DJ or moving making career.” He held his hand out. “Do we have a deal, Nino Lahiffe?”

*****  
Alya just stared in horror at the sight before her; earlier, Marinette had gone to the graveyard on the other side of the manor and started to do grave etchings and now here Kim was with paint of some kind and ruining each of the etchings. She couldn’t help but to panic at the sight, she looked around to make sure that no-one was around before rushing over and shoving Kim off of the chair, he yelled and looked up at her in disbelief.

“What the hell was that for, Alya?” he demanded.

“Are you insane!” She screamed. “You just ruined Marinette’s work!”

“They’re just charcoal drawings, Alya, besides I don’t recall you being this concerned before we even showed up to the manor! You’re Lila’s best friend after all.” He jabbed.

Alya shook her head. “Just because Lila is my friend, doesn’t mean I let her manipulate me into ruining someone else’s work!”

“Oh, that’s fucking rich coming from you! You saw her drop a smoothie on top of Marinette’s head and you didn’t do a thing to stop her or to help Marinette!” Kim took a step back. “Don’t you fucking preach what you don’t even practice!”

“First of all, that was an accident! Lila tripped!” Alya cried. “Marinette just blew that whole thing out of proportions. Look, you need to redo those etchings before someone in this manor sees and does something crazy!”

“Oh no, someone in the manor is going to see!” Kim sneered. “What the hell do you think they’re going to do? Kill me? FYI, we have a daughter of a cop here, these people aren’t going to be able to touch me!” He turned and stormed off. “Fix the etchings your damn self! I’m going to see if there’s something to do here.”

While Alya was fretting to get rid of the evidence, the deed was already witnessed by Narcisse, the saying about the walls having eyes were true to an extent. The sight and the conversation just sickened him; he knew Felix had gave Alya the challenge of protecting her classmates but this had to be the most disgusting conversation ever. He and the others heard the whole story, Alya enabled Lila’s behavior and that behavior is what was going to get everyone maimed or killed while they stayed here. Didn’t really help that everyone here was a descendant of their rotten ancestors, since they were here at the place where the curse was born, they were going to be doomed in suffering as they did so many years ago – unless Marinette forgave them, but Narcisse had his doubts that she would ever forgive Kim for the damage of those placeholders she was working so hard on. And he was right, one quick visit to the maiden in question and he was met with a rage that could rival Felix’s, she even snapped the pen she was holding in her hand, when asked if she would forgive him – as well as sliding in what he said in his conversation to Alya, she was livid. If she was like him and the rest of the household residents, he swore her hair would be flaring up like flames and she would most likely bring down some divine judgement. Marinette had to take a few calming breaths before straightening herself up, she knew the curse and how to save someone, but everything leading up to this, she was just tired of it all. She was tired of her class, she was tired of their sheep-like mentality, she was tired of Lila, she was tired of her teacher, she was done. She faced Narcisse with a tired expression and just shook her head, telling him to let Felix know he could do whatever he wanted to Kim, she didn’t care anymore and the wedding wasn’t going to plan itself.

Those were music to his ears, after hearing what his betrothed had said about Kim’s fate was enough for him to work. Canter had finished his work in the cemetery, all that was really needed was his prize collection of adders and vipers. He loved his snakes, they always got the job done when it came to wanting someone to truly suffer – part of him wondered why he didn’t do that to Ken all those years ago, well no sense in crying over spilled milk, he wasn’t going to make that mistake again. Smiling at their hisses, he gently picked up one of each snake and placed them in their own carrier as well as complimenting them on their beautiful scales and how healthy they’ve looked. After making sure everyone was in their carrier and secured to the wagon, he made his way to the cemetery where his target would be, it wasn’t that hard to convince him to go – all one had to do was promise him a sight of a dead body, stupid jock would believe anything you told him. He smiled at his accomplice who was leaning against the old oak tree, clearly, he wasn’t thrilled about having to lie to his classmate, but he agreed to their terms and conditions and couldn’t really complain. After all, Felix was a man of his word, Nicholas wouldn’t be tasked with anything that required to get his hands dirty and all he had to do was just lure the target away from prying eyes. Everything was falling into place, and Felix was just relishing in it after he had sent a viper over to give Kim a little scare. The big strong brute screamed and started running blindly, a well-placed grave marker was all that was needed to make the oaf trip and crash land in an open grave. Ah the sweet sound of pain filling the air, this is the kind of suffering he wanted to enjoy.

“Please! Someone, help me!” Kim cried. “My leg might be broken!”

Even better.

Felix walked over and knelt by the grave, looking down at Kim with a look of false concern. “What were you doing in the cemetery?” he asked. “How did you even get into a grave in the first place?”

“Look I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disrespect the dead or anything, just help me out!”

“That doesn’t answer my question.” He climbed down and walked up to him. “You look pretty pathetic right now, you are aware of that, right? Just like Ken, he was pretty pathetic when he was sobbing and soiling himself.”

“Who? Look, just get Ms. Bustier or an ambulance, someone!” Kim begged.

“Hmm…No.” He smirked. “I don’t think I will, I believe I gave you the one strike rule and you used that when you spoke crudely about my dead fiancé.” His eyes started to glow an acidic green. “Describing in detail of the things you’d do to her, and if that’s not enough you decided to ruin my current fiancé’s work. You used up your chances and now you’re going to pay for them, I think a night in the grave is just what you need.” He climbed out and walked away from the grave, listening to Kim begging and pleading for him to return and to get him out. 

That wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Felix turned to Canter and nodded as he returned to the manor, the masked figure knew what to do and didn’t hesitate in returning to the grave. As Kim was trying his usual begging spiel, Canterella just started dropping poisonous snakes in one by one, each targeted Kim and started biting him violently in the arms, legs, wherever they could get their fangs in. He tried to fight them off to no avail, he was sobbing and fighting, his cries finally died down after one of the serpents bit him into the throat and he was pumped with the final dosage of a cocktail of venom. His bloodied body laying there as Canter carefully retrieved the snakes, once everyone was accounted for, he began to bury Kim, it was a fitting place for him to be with his ancestor that had carried Bridgette to her death and now it was the resting place of a lecherous jock. 

Once everything was said and done, the manor was a little bit quieter. Just the way Felix enjoyed it, that was one less idiot from Ms. Bustier’s class to feed. Dinner was delicious, he got to enjoy everyone’s reaction; Alya was looking at him horrified, the rest of the class were bitching about how Kim was late and they were probably going to suffer because he couldn’t tell him, Ms. Bustier being so insistent on calling the authorities (why? He probably was smart and ran away from the manor, he was probably back in town as they speak), and there was Nino. Nino looking calm and not saying anything, he did look up at Felix once and gave a bored expression (‘Really, death by snakes? How unoriginal.’ Well if he could do better, he’d love to see him try). Nino was actually a star student in his eyes, he was the first of many to offer his assistance to Juliana and Rosaline around the manor as well as assisting Marinette in recreating the grave etchings. Now if only more students were like him then maybe this little vacation getaway would go more smoothly.

*****

He wasn’t sure when it happened, but if he had to guess, he’d say it was sometime around dessert was when that meddlesome teacher called the authorities. It was no problem to handle, he was the puppet master after all, all he had to do was sweettalk them into believing that nothing was wrong. After all, Kim was the one who complained the most that there wasn’t anything to do in this dumb manor, why wouldn’t he have left the place when given the chance? His hold must have been slipping some since Officer Roger still wanted to search the grounds, fine by him, he had nothing to hide. And sure enough, nothing came up. Kim’s belongings were gone, his room was tidied, and there was even a note written by him saying he apologized but he wasn’t going to stay in this creepy manor any longer. Really now, why was it so hard to believe that Kim left on his own free will? That was enough evidence for Roger to need before he left the estate, of course now Felix had to deal with Caline about this.

“Is it your hobby to waste everyone’s time?” he demanded.

“Kim didn’t leave, I saw him follow Nino out back!” Caline hissed. “What happened to him?”

Felix scoffed. “I’m not your school’s babysitter, whatever your students do is on them. Why don’t you ask Nino since you saw him with Kim last?”

“I did and he told me all they did was just walked outside and that Kim strayed to the graveyard!”

“Well then that’s what happened; they got separated, Kim probably got scared, he took his things and left a note before leaving. Now then, it’s late and everyone is tired.” He’s especially tired of this teacher in general with her playing favorites. “I suggest you retire to your room for the night, Madame.”

She just huffed and stormed off. Typical, she was going to be a thorn in his side, well no matter. Weeds like here were easy to get rid of, he just had to find the right weed removal and the garden wouldn’t have to deal with the likes of it ever again. Right now, he had a long day tomorrow and he didn’t want to be tired for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, who's next on the chopping block?


	17. Investigative Dance

Her dreams were all the same; she would find herself with Bridgette and helping her plan out her big day, everything would be fine – she got to help with the dress after all, she looked so beautiful in it (it was a blessing she and Bridgette were the same size, it wouldn’t be too difficult for Bridgette to make a dress for her as well. “I know you wanted to ask Rosaline, and I promise she’s going to say yes. When she does, I’ll make you into a beautiful princess as well.”) Those were the happy days, but, then her dream would shift into a darker tone. Juleka would watch in horror as her friends would send Bridgette to her death, she tried to save her, she really did! But it was all for nothing as they would keep her from dousing the flames or even jumping in to save her and risk getting burned. She hated them, she wanted them to suffer, she wanted Bridgette back! And then she would wake up with a heartache and a tearstained pillow, if she had to guess she would say that after hearing of the sorrowful story of Bridgette and her love being torn apart is what caused these dreams to happen. But she knew that was a lie right there, she’s had these dreams since the beginning of this year; before, they weren’t anything to worry about, they were just her living in a manor with Rose and just helping around the gardens together. Now, they were becoming more and more vivid each day, the manor wasn’t entirely helping, and the heavy rainfalls were keeping her inside so she couldn’t camp out in the bus if she wanted to (she didn’t, she’d rather have the nice warm bed over the hard and cold seats). 

Getting up, she got dressed and made her way downstairs for breakfast, she knew she was going to be early; she usually was and she would usually see Felix at the head of the table with coffee in front him. Juleka couldn’t help but to smile at him, true she just met Marinette’s mysterious boyfriend – fiancé, but she could tell the two loved each other deeply. The stories that she would tell her and Rose after school just made her heart flutter, Rose was more impressed with the more ‘romantic’ stuff (sharing lunch together, dancing, or just walking in the gardens) but even so, they had a strong bond. A bond that Ms. Bustier wanted to break. Really, why couldn’t that dense broad see that Felix was good for Mari, he was a gentleman and he was well off, he could take care of her! Another person to fill her rage, well actually no, she’s felt this rage for a while now ever since she showed up and made school life a living hell and the teacher didn’t do anything to stop her reign of terror! Now adding in the events of the past and present, she was just ready to hold a séance so she could curse everyone out and tell them to shove a pitchfork up their asses!

“Might I suggest that you turn away from me, I can feel the heat from your eyes way over here.” Felix called.

Juleka blushed and looked away, she forgot that she was still staring at him. Her actions caused the blond to chuckle slightly before inviting her over to sit beside him, to which she complied. He was a gentleman, a bit cold at times but he was still a gentleman.

“Now then, whatever did I do to incur the wrath of Miss Juleka Couffaine?” he set his book down and turned to look at her. “You were in pretty deep thought over there.”

She bowed her head a little. “Sorry, I had a rough night.”

“That much I can tell; do you want to talk about it?”

Without hesitating for even a second, Juleka told him everything about the dream she’d been having lately. All the joy, the sorrow, the burning hatred from the events of the past, all wrapped up in a nice bundle for her to deal with. She wouldn’t have minded them as much if they didn’t remind her what was happening in school; a liar with a silver tongue making Marinette out to be some cruel and heartless person, people that Marinette called her friends easily turning on her, the bullying from the liar in question, she wanted it all to stop! She wanted those sheep to pay for their misdeeds! She didn’t even care that some of the students were her friends, if they were going to be blind and easily throw others under the bus just to make a special snowflake happy then the curse could have them! All those emotions she was pouring out made Felix sympathize with her, Nino had said something similar and, in the end, he helped him out. After all, Felix was a man of his word and Nino had complied easily with luring Kim to the cemetery, so he saw no reason why he couldn’t help Juleka the same way. She just had to agree to his terms and everything will be smooth sailing for the both of them.

“I might know of a way to help you.” Felix said softly, gently laying a hand on her shoulder.

Juleka rubbed at her eyes. “How?” she choked out. “How can you change the past?”

Felix smiled. “I already put those fools to rest so we can focus on the now. Since the past has a nasty habit of repeating itself, we can silence those who try to do the same.” He smirked. “Take a look at Kim, he ruined those lovely placemats my fiancé was working on, and now he’s gone. If I hadn’t done something who knows what he could have done if still left alive.”

“Did he suffer?” She asked quietly. “Or was it quick and painless?”

“Hmm well with Ken, I shot him in the kneecaps before putting a bullet in his head.” He shrugged. “Not my ideal method, blood is hard to get out of clothing, I decided for Kim to let nature take its hold. Ever seen a territorial adder before? They get quite nasty.”

She couldn’t help but to laugh at the scene he painted for her. “Sorry, I shouldn’t laugh but…How did you get snakes on him?”

“Have him trip and fall into an empty grave first, Nicholas had a hand in that department.” Felix shrugged. “Or rather, Nino had a hand in that department.”

“You expect me to believe you got DJ boy involved in your scheme?” She huffed. “I’d sooner believe that Lila was trained by a ninja in sword fighting.”

Felix smiled. “It’s really not that hard to get him to agree, he wanted to stand by Marinette and help her in any means necessary. I simply provided him the offer of joining me and defend his friend to the end, and that is the offer I wish to extend to you, Juleka Couffaine, if you should side with me you can’t ever back out, I offer to you the chance to defend Marinette and the family in return I shall grant you whatever your heart holds dear to you.” He held his hand out. “Do we have a deal?”

*****  
Breakfast was a hassle, once more the liar couldn’t get up on time and the peanut gallery had to bitch and moan about how Felix was treating her unfairly. When will they learn that this was his manor and that he called the shots around here? Oh wait, the answer would be never, they’re just going to continue to act like entitled children – heck, Nino could probably write a novel about this on an online forum with this topic. Still, despite the hiccup, Felix had promised everyone that in light of Kim’s sudden departure last night he was going to treat the class to a special event in the manor. They were going to have a party in the grand ballroom! They were going to get the full nobility treatment and have a night of elegance, it didn’t matter if they didn’t have the formal wear needed, tonight they were going to dance away their worries and stress. The dance would be held at seven, no late entries allowed. The mood instantly lightened and the bitching turned into praises, everyone collectively had forgotten about Kim and his behavior yesterday – this really showed how they saw each other, and that just brought on a new sadistic grin on his face. One look at his bride-to-be and the grin grew, she had a look of disgust as everyone just disregarded Kim; ‘the coward just had to flee, he’s missing out big time’ and other such comments made her sick to her stomach. The only people who had nothing to say were Chloe, Sabrina, Nino, Juleka, and surprisingly Alya. Ah, did his little reporter friend finally got a lead in her investigation? Perhaps another meeting was to be arranged between them later in the day, he had high hopes for her; maybe she’ll prevent the next accident, or maybe not. He wasn’t going to hold his breath when it came down to this class.

After everyone had parted, Alya had made her way through the halls of the manor once more. Nino had bailed on her to see if there was anything he could do to help around the manor, and Juleka was beside Marinette and Rose talking about the dance. The dance was the least of her concerns, Felix no doubt had done something to Kim, but she didn’t have a solid lead on that – hell, she was certain that he disposed the body last night while they were all asleep. Right now, she was going to put every bit of her attention into this case; yesterday she had found an art studio behind the wall where their tour guide resided, he was working in a sketchbook working out possible ideas for the wedding. Like her classmate, he was soft-spoken and didn’t have much to say. She tried asking him if he wanders throughout the manor in the walls, he didn’t confirm or deny, it got her riled up that she left in a huff. But now that she thought about it, it wouldn’t be too hard for him to lurk in the walls and shadows and observe everything, she decided to return to the studio, relieved that it was empty for the time being. She immediately got to work and dug around what she could, there was only one locked door and that was the side table, the skeleton key wasn’t going to help her in that. Sighing, she went and felt around the walls and even knocking on them to find which ones were hollowed or not. Luck was on her side! She had felt a breeze from the wall and felt around, a hidden door! Silently cheering, she immediately searched for the handle and when she did, she began to explore the hidden passages.

It definitely confirmed one thing; Narcisse was definitely one of the eyes of the manor. As Alya walked through the dimly lit corridors, she took her time to look through every peep hole and watched the room before her; she found Nino with Felix and a girl with a short dark blue hair and an athletic figure, on her hip was a sword. Actually, now that she got a closer look, the girl looked like that famous fencer…Tsurugi. What was she doing here? She stayed close and listened in on the trio, maybe one of them would slip and reveal something to her?

Felix was looking over himself in the mirror, the suit he had was pretty old. It was going to be his wedding suit after all, but he never got the chance to wear it, yet now that he was looking it over, he was starting to regret his choices. His best swordswoman and swordsman were in agreement as well. It was definitely time to go suit shopping.

“You could always ask Marinette to tailor you one.” Tsurugi said. “She won’t mind.”

“She has her own planning to do, I am not going to burden her with the trouble of tailoring my wedding suit.” Felix changed back into his casual wear and tossed the old suit aside. “Now then, what do you two have to report?” 

Nino was the first to speak. “Alix is still rollerblading through the manor, despite the work staff asking her to stop.” He scoffed. “Alya is still pursuing the investigation you set for her, Max is still torn that Kim left and has been in the game room trying to beat Marinette’s score – by the way do you want his comments on those or nah?”

“Leave the robot boy for later, I could care less what that so-called Brainiac has to say.” Felix dismissed him. “How goes the investigation by the way?”

“You could ask her, she’s right over there.” Tsurugi pointed to the painting that Alya was behind.

“Good thing the paintings double as a door then.” Felix walked over and pulled the painting to him, opening the hidden halls to reveal the reporter in question. He had a cheerful smile on his face as she blanched after being caught spying on them. “You found a secret; I knew you had it in you!”

Alya quickly glared at him and crossed her arms. “You couldn’t do your own dirty work so you had to manipulate my boyfriend to help you?” she challenged.

“Such a harsh accusation, Alya.” Felix moved over to the old vanity and looked over some of the broaches before him. “He asked if there was anything he could do, and I told him he could help with going through some old stuff in this room.”

“As well as help you get rid of Kim?” She challenged. “You did something to him! You probably hid his body while we were asleep last night!”

Felix chuckled coldly at her. “You are so close and yet so far, true I had Kim…disposed of, but it was not by my hands. In fact, I didn’t do a thing, I simply provided the means to rid of him.” 

“And what the hell did you do?” she pressed.

“Hmm, how desperate are you in knowing the truth behind his disappearance?” Felix asked, he looked over a butterfly broach and held it up. “What do you think, should I wear this or no?”

“Fine, be like that!” Alya stood up. “You have someone watch us from the shadows and with that information you acted out and killed Kim based off what a third party told you! I solved your curse.”

Both Felix and Tsurugi laughed at her accusation, Felix wiped his eyes. “You’re nowhere close to the truth about the curse my dear, but you are close to finding out part of the reason that Kim was executed. Keep it up and maybe you’ll be one step closer.” He stood up. “Until then, if you have nothing more to say, please leave the room. I have work to do, a wedding to plan, and a possible punishment to dole out.”

Alya paled and rushed out, whoever was next she had to stop them from suffering the same fate as Kim. She could only hope she wasn’t too late. 

*****  
The party was in full swing, everyone seemed to be having a grand time and not having a care in the world. Caline dared say, this is definitely what her students needed after the harsh beginnings they had on their first night here. It was nice to see Felix seeing reasons after all. He was really kind to let Kitty Section and Nino take control of the music and was also kind to provide delicious food and beverages. Despite his harsh exterior, Felix was a good person and Caline couldn’t have been prouder. Of course, her sentiment wasn’t shared, Alya was a wallflower and was watching the scene with unease. Felix had said he had to plot out a punishment for someone and that meant that someone had already used their single strike and was playing a game of risk and chance, she had to stop the person from doing something reckless and end up like Kim.

Felix was with Marinette; a slow song had begun and anyone who had a lover took to the center floor and began dancing. Feeling his betrothed’s head against his chest and smiling was all he needed to have to lift his spirits. It was moments like this where he could shut the world out and focus on the one and only in his arms. Of course, on a night like this when they have guests, he would always make sure to look to the onlookers and flash a prideful grin; ‘You’ll never find an angel quite like this one’ was what he’d silently tell them. It’s the same grin that he gave to the past patrons when he was first engaged, and it would never change. Marinette was his angel and he wasn’t going to share her with anyone and nothing was going to change that.

Of course, all good things must come to an end. Sometime after the dances had ended and everyone was gathered at the refreshment table, the little hypochondriac liar was going on about some gala she had went to that could put this lame party to shame and of course most everyone was eating it up. Felix just scoffed at it and went to relax by the window, he had his fair share of dancing and would rather relax for a while before he was pulled by the hand to join in another dance or two by his beloved. And that was another thing, Marinette was doing the same on the other side of the room (a few feet from the refreshments table). She was beside a stained-glass window of Bridgette, it was his favorite portrait of her because when the sun hits it just right, she looked like an angel. That’s what Bridgette and Marinette were to him, angels from above. Angels that had to deal with maggots who drain them of their joy and happiness, and this curse of his was going to assure karma was going to come after them hard. And it would soon, for when he watched the group of sheep before him; Lila was about to try to mess with Marinette’s dress once more, the wicked smile and the walk of doom, Alix had saw the smirk and tried to stop her by grabbing her wrist harshly and causing a struggle. Felix had to admit, he did enjoy a good catfight if the end results were to his liking, however tonight was different as the fight ended with Lila shoving Alix off her, sending her flying into Marinette and into the wall, her head hitting the stone pretty hard and causing injury. Lila hurried out of the scene and Alix was trying to tend to her friend.

Felix shook his head and sighed. It seems tonight he was going to have Nicholas and Juliana help him out with this one. Standing up, he calmly walked over and helped Marinette up to check the damage; nothing a minor stitch work can’t fix, a silent glare from him to Alix was all he needed to tell her that he would deal with her later, the flinch and apology was all he needed to let out a wicked smirk of his own. Her noble act reminded him so much of Alice, he suppose that he should treat her like her ancestor later on.


	18. Red Hot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After scavenging through my notes and ideas, I was finally able to recover this fic! 
> 
> I'm not dead everyone, I just lost old data when my dog destroyed my flashdrive.

_She wasn’t a witch. Bridgette was anything but a witch. It’s what Alice had insisted time and time again when the claims were made, she was their friend, she was the village’s sweetheart she would never do the wicked things that were said about her! Whatever the liar had said took a solid hold and Alice couldn’t believe their friends would turn on her like this! It’s why it wasn’t her fault. Alice tried to stop Ken from lighting the pyre, she wrestled the torch from his hands so that Bridgette could escape! What happened instead was in the midst of the struggle, the torch was flung to the heart of the pyre and close to Bridgette’s person. The screams of pain as the flames licked her body; she was going to suffer a great deal of pain before the smoke could kill her. Alice tried to rush to her aide but Ken was holding her back, she kicked and struggled to get him to let go but it was no use. She was forced to watch her friend die unjustly. _

_That was all she could see before her world went black. Upon awaking, she found herself laying in bed; she hoped what happened was all but a dream, but the true horror of reality is that it wasn’t. She couldn’t get up, she was…paralyzed. As far as she could tell she wasn’t tied down or anything so…what-_

_“You’re awake, how wonderful.” A cold voice rang. _

_Alice paled as she saw a set of acidic green eyes in the shadows; upon coming into view she was able to see Felix. Felix Culpa. The demon who cursed their town after Bridgette –_

_“Don’t bother pleading your way out of this, you had other options to save her than that reckless method of yours.” He ran a gloved hand down her leg. “I’m sure we can find a job that allows you to sit – take a look at Charlotte, she’s going to be in a chair the rest of her life.” He smirked and pulled back._

_“Felix…please.” She begged._

_“You and the others brought this upon yourself.” He grabbed an axe from a table and led it up. “I’ll try to make sure the blood-loss doesn’t kill you.”_

Alix woke up screaming from the terrible nightmare. It took her a while to listen to the rain and to take in her surroundings to realize that she was still in the mansion. For now, at least, she wasn’t going to stay another minute in this creepy place, Kim had the right idea in hightailing it out of there. Grabbing a duffle bag and filling it with the clothes she needs and her skates, she got her shoes on and hurried out of the room she was staying in, flinching as whenever she passed an old painting the gaze would turn wicked and…god those bright green eyes. She choked and stumbled down the grand staircase, that was going to leave a bruise.

Getting back up she rushed to the main entrance; she reeled back, for once she opened the door; she saw a masked figure staring down at her – she could see the malicious glint in his eyes. Alix took a step back and tried to bolt but the man took her by the arm and dragged her into a hidden passage way in the wall and forced her to a secluded room; it was an old forgery back in its glory day, but now it was just a glorified basement with a ridiculous large furnace. After throwing her unceremoniously into the room and locking the door behind him, Alix put some distance between them as she frantically looked for a weapon to use as defense.

“Please…have a seat.” 

Alix turned and felt relief when she saw the maid of the house. “Juliana.” Her relief turned to confusion, now that she got a good look at the maid, she seemed…different. She looked more like her classmate with the violet in her hair. “Wait…Juleka?”

The maid didn’t answer and just watched as Cantarella pushed Alix into a nearby chair, her gaze just hardened as she went back to tending the furnace, saying that the master would be with her shortly, and just like clockwork when Alix questioned what Felix had to do with anything, he came stalking out of the shadows with that malicious grin and glowing acidic eyes. 

“The past really _does_ have a terrible way of repeating itself.” Felix sat in front of Alix. “Would you believe me if I told you that your actions mirrored that of dear Alice? She wanted to help dear Bridgette but…afraid she was reckless and ended up causing her death.”

“Look, I was trying to keep Lila from ruining Marinette’s night…she was looking forward to the last-minute dance you were holding.” Alix explained. “I didn’t mean to smack her into the wall.”

“And Alice didn’t mean to burn Bridgette alive and yet, here we are.” Felix leaned back. “I’m feeling generous today, I’m willing to let you leave the manor in one piece.” His grin returned. “Of course, sacrifices must be made.” He looked down at her shoes and snapped his fingers, paying no mind to her struggles as they were forced off her. “Skin grafting is a bitch, but at least you’ll still have your legs…even if Alice wasn’t so lucky.”

That was the last thing anyone could hear before Alix’ screams filled the room as hot iron shoes were placed on her, it wasn’t entirely his most preferred method of punishment, but at least it was a lot cleaner than when he had taken an ax to Alice’s legs. Blood was such a nasty thing to get out of clothing, at least here…the smell of burnt flesh…he gritted his teeth; Alice had caused his wife to die in a fire, this was just…at least the pain would be temporary and the hospital bills will be covered.

“Get her out of the mansion.” He ordered. “And make sure her room is cleared out.”

Come morning light, Felix had the same speech readied; he informed everyone that a servant saw Alix leave via a cab service and was on the way back to Paris. There were more groans of disappointment, why did she have to leave as well? While the majority bought the story, the only two who weren’t fooled were Marinette and Alya; Felix knew those two would catch on that something was happening – Marinette who was just tired and said nothing, Alya who was tasked into finding out the nature of the curse. So far, luck has not been on the girl’s side, perhaps she just needed another push.

After breakfast was had, Felix offered to take everyone’s mind off the absentees and guided them to another part of the estate; the storm had finally halted for the time being and it would be a perfect time to do a little horseback riding. It brightened the mood up greatly as he brought them to get changed into proper riding uniforms; customed made after all, he was feeling generous after all. Naturally the little liar had to brag about how she knew some famous rider and soak up the attention. He had to praise Marinette being able to put up with her all this time. Rolling his eyes, he brought everyone to the stables so they could meet the horses, while most were descendants of the family’s horses, there was one he kept under the immortality spell and it was actually his favorite.

“And here you are, my dear.” Felix brought Marinette to a black stallion. “His name is Angel, Bridgette named him” he smiled.

“He’s a handsome fellow.” Marinette smiled and petted him. “How did he get the name?”

“Well, one of the days I caught Bridgette sneaking in she was with the horses and she named everyone; she came across him and she named him Angel.”

“Come on Felix, there’s more to that story.” 

Felix huffed. “He’s a demon and will throw people off him or bite people.” He got a saddle ready. “Only people he likes were Bridgette and myself.”

“And you’re putting me on the demon horse.” Marinette laughed as he helped her up. “Hey Angel.” She greeted, “You’re not a demon…no, you’re just a big baby.” She laughed again as the horse just snorted.

Felix smiled and went to a different horse – a grey stallion, he led the group out of the stables and down a trotted path. The forests were home to some distant property that belonged to the family. Vacation homes most likely, but since hardly anyone resided there anymore it was now just being reclaimed by nature and looked like a shire. The guests were free to dismount and go to check out the old homes if they wished – the only ones who took that offer were Juleka, Rose, Nino, Marinette, and Nathaniel. Some of the others just wanted to ride around and just enjoy something they never got to do often. 

Joe and Luka rode up to him with a grin on their faces, they didn’t need to say anything, he already knew what they were going to ask and the answer was ‘yes, they were going to use this place as the sight of the wedding’. If they could get through the rest of this little impromptu visit without anymore ‘accidents’ along the way.

When everyone had returned, Felix led the way again and showing more of the ‘vacation’ property. He made the offhand comment that if the weather would permit them then perhaps, they could have a lovely picnic out here, that got most everyone cheering with excitement. Of course, everyone would be on board with it, they would get to be outside the manor for a while and they would be able to do some outdoor games as well. Like before, a subtle jab at those who were missing had to be made. Such a shame that Kim and Alix couldn’t join them.

“I’m not mad at them for leaving so suddenly, after all, my family’s manor does have a dark history.” Felix sighed with a sad look. “I can see about getting you a ride to a hotel if you’d like.”

“Felix, whatever happened in the past isn’t your fault.” Ms. Bustier assured. “You’re being a gracious host and helping out Marinette and her friends.”

The last person he needed a ‘heartfelt’ talk from. “Thank you, madame, I wish I could have done more to make Alix and Kim feel at ease.” He wanted those two to suffer more. 

“I’ll be sure to give them a stern talking to when we get back to town.” She promised. 

That’ll be sooner than she’d want to if she proceeded to shoot herself in the foot while on this trip. Just be patient, Felix, the waiting game is always the fun one to be had. 

“If you say so, now then, shall we return for lunch?”

*****

First Kim, then Alix; there was a pattern here aside from them intentionally or unintentionally hurting Marinette. But what the hell did that have to do with the curse? This was all done by a person, wasn’t it? But if that was the case then Marinette might be marrying some deranged killer!

Alya was seated in front of Felix who was reading a book while enjoying tea. “You know with how things are today, getting away with murder is near impossible.”

“I’ve been doing this for years now.” Was all Felix said. 

“You’ll get caught eventually, what would Marinette think?”

“She’s willing to look the other way.” He smirked. “Please tell me you’ve made some headway in your investigation.”

Alya crossed her arms. “I did, the victims are connected to Marinette – you’re maiming in her name.”

“You’re getting there, there’s another thing that connects them.” Felix moved his hand to encourage her to go on. “Come on, you’re almost there, bring us home Miss Cesaire!”

“I don’t…”

Felix sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Someone’s been sleeping in history lectures.” He looked at her. “This is the only time I’m going to give you the push you need; I’d suggest looking into Bridgette’s demise and look at who was directly or indirectly involved with her death.”

“That doesn’t narrow the field, back in those times people went to executions like it was their daily entertainment.” She reminded. “Can’t you give me a better hint?”

“Fine.” He crossed his arms. “Near the forest is the family graveyard, go there and you’ll get your answer, is that better?”

“You’re just taking your time enjoying my struggle.” Alya stood up with a huff, glaring as he just chuckled.

“You have no idea.” He smirked. “I enjoy seeing every single one of you suffer.”

**Author's Note:**

> Do not push Pandas.


End file.
